A 60-year-old woman faces criminal charges for inflicting physical abuse on her mother-in-law in India’s Gujarat. The gory incident came to light after a neighbor recorded the heinous act—where the lady was seen thrashing the victim in the balcony of her apartment— and alerted cops about it.
An investigation was launched soon after, post which the senior citizen was shifted to an old age home. The 85-year-old widowed woman, identified as Kanta Solanki, had come over to Surat city to live with her sons, following the death of her husband Girdhar about six months ago. Solanki has three sons, who living in the city with their wives and children, and had decided amongst themselves that they would keep her at their places for a month each.
However, things took a detour from the initial plan, which led to Solanki having to overstay her visit at her older son Bharat’s house. This certainly brought a great deal of stress to Bharat’s family, as his wife was certainly not okay with the arrangement. The animosity translated into abuse, and Solanki was soon at the receiving end of Taruna's (Bharat’s wife)’s habitual beatings.
On one such occasion, Solanki’s wails didn’t fall on deaf ears as a proactive neighbor decided to bring this to the notice of the police. He captured the disturbing sight on video, and handed it over to the cops as a shred of evidence, The Times Of India reported.
Despite everything the aged woman had gone through, she refused to file a complaint against Taruna or any of her family members, suggested the police. Solanki was abused by her family in the past, but had chosen to keep mum about it for the sake of keeping the family united. Neither has Taruna nor any of Solanki’s other family members addressed the issue.
“Due to old age, Solanki has developed physical and mental problems. She is not able to carry out her daily routines without someone’s help,” said a police officer, as cited in Times Now News. The incident highlights the murky reality of aged citizens who face the plight of abuse within the family, more so when they have no other channel to fend for themselves.
