In a disturbing trend of attacks against elderly in Delhi, six persons have been killed in last 30 days in the capital.
Special Commissioner of Police (Crime) Taj Hassan told Deccan Herald that almost all the elderly who stay alone have been registered by Delhi Police’s Senior Citizen Cell.
However, the ones who live with their children or other relatives often don’t get themselves registered with the Cell, as they feel that they don’t need the police’s protection because they are living with their kins.
In the latest such case an elderly couple who had gone for a stroll in a park near their house were attacked by unknown people with knife in Outer Delhi’s Prashant Vihar. The woman was killed while the man is battling for his life.
Police suspect that someone known to the couple or their previous domestic help could be behind the attack.
Although through special drives launched by the Delhi Police, senior citizens are being identified and registered on a regular basis; senior police officers feel that the senior citizens should themselves come forward and register themselves with the police.
“We urge all the senior citizens of the city to voluntarily get registered with the Senior Citizen Cell, so that the beat constable can pay a regular visit to them and keep a tab on their safety and security,” Hassan said.
Out of the six incidents in the last one month, domestic helps were involved in three cases while previous employees with inside information of the victim’s house were involved in the other two, said police.
Although, the Senior Citizen Cell of Delhi Police is there exclusively for the protection of elderly in the capital, Delhi Police officers said that in most of the cases elderly themselves don’t verify their domestic helps due to several reasons which sometimes prove fatal for them.
“If a person starts working in a house as a domestic help with the sole motive of robbery, he would never let his police verification done. Infact, he would not even come to a house where the employers insist on verification. Had the domestic helps who committed these crimes gone through police verification, they wouldn’t have dared doing the crimes,” said a police officer attached with Delhi Police’s Senior Citizen Cell.
“In most cases employers fear that the helps wouldn’t like to be verified by the police and if they insist for it they might loose a good helping hand. In some cases where a domestic help is catering to several houses, the residents feel complacent in getting their verification done, thinking if he or she is working for so many people he should be trusted,” the officer added.