When a plumber came in for work one morning into the house of Chandra Narasimhan, a 70-year-old resident of Jayanagar, little did Chandra know that she would make headlines the next morning or that the man who had been fixing her pipes for the last 10 days would smother her to death.
But she is definitely not the first person on Bangalore’s list of senior murder victims and in all likelihood she will not be the last. Take the case of A S Venkata Rangan and his wife, residents of Jayanagar, who had their throats slit, apparently by a maid who had worked with them for three days. These are just two of over 50 senior murders that the city has seen over the past four years.
Bangalore has seen an alarming rise in crimes, specifically murders, against the elderly. Once known as a pensioner’s paradise; the senior citizens in Bangalore today live in constant fear of being attacked even in the safety of their homes.
Maisy Jacob, a 68-year-old resident of R T Nagar said, “The safety level has definitely gone down from what it was 48 years ago. While it is not fair to say that everyone is bad, you should be careful.”
Dr Radha Murthy, managing trustee and founder of the Nightingales Medical Trust said that it is the separation of the elderly from the community at large that makes them so vulnerable.
“Many senior citizens live alone and have very little contact with the neighbouring community because of which there is nobody to check on them or even notice if something is amiss,” she stated.
According to Dr Murthy, most elderly people do not conduct background checks on the people they employ.
“This gives people with questionable intentions, easy access as is evident from the double murder of A S Venkata Rangan and his wife. Physical disabilities such as restricted mobility, hearing problems further endanger the aged,” he said. Helplines such as the Elders Helpline, a project initiated by the Nightingales Medical Trust in collaboration with the Karnataka State Police, and the Helpage India Helpline provide solutions to many civil issues that senior citizens face. These include protection against harassment, tenant issues and investment issues.
“We get an average of about 35 calls every day with complaints ranging from harassment to noisy neighbours,” said an employee of the Elders helpline project.
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