One Day Seminar

On

Senior Citizens and Elderly People: Legal, Social and Ethical

Perspectives

29th April 2023

Organized by

Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab

Sponsored by

INDIAN COUNCIL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH (ICSSR)

North-Western Regional Centre, Chandigarh

TITLE- ELDERLY PEOPLE AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Co-Authors:

Affiliation of Co- Authors: Students

College: Bahra College of Law, Patiala

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 ABSTRACT

Aging is universal, affecting people regardless of their location, gender, caste, or other
markers. Broad rules to safeguard rights, such as equality and nondiscrimination, are outlined
in the Indian Constitution and international human rights legislation standards. These are
mirrored in the actual legal environment and how it functions. Both of them, meanwhile,
don't appear to live up to the provisions of the Constitution. The modest achievements gained
by maintenance and domestic violence laws that attempt to guarantee living with equality and
dignity in old age is outweighed by the State's surrender of responsibilities in terms of social
security deficiency and excessive delays on matters pertaining to rights claims. The purpose
of this study is to investigate and analyse elder abuse in India and its impact on the quality of
life of the elderly. Domestic Violence is a form of interpersonal violence in which one partner
uses violence or abuse to gain control over the other. Elderly people who are physically and
mentally weak and considered to have poor judgment are often exploited and taken advantage
of despite state rules and regulations to prevent their exploitation. A large number of
elders over 60 years of age experience financial exploitation, abuse, or neglect each year.
Even with the high number of complaints, there is no evidence of any kind of action to stop
elder abuse. According to fieldwork, older people who experienced maltreatment had poorer
mental and physical conditions than those who did not. Despite the state's laws and
regulations protecting them from abuse, the elderly are frequently taken advantage of and
abused because they are seen to have poor decision-making abilities and are physically and
psychologically frail. Perhaps the laws are not strict enough, or perhaps people don't know
enough about the laws that are now in effect. Elderly people frequently have their basic rights
infringed and are disregarded.

This paper analyses how elder’s domestic violence takes place, what leads to it along with the
laws protecting the same and why it is not reported in large scale.