Tortured couple seeks SDO’s help

Tortured couple seeks SDO’s help
Subhro Maitra TNN
Malda: Repeated ‘torture’ by their son forced an aged couple in Malda to seek the administration’s help on Wednesday. Not only had Prasanta Choudhury (60) and his wife Niva (56) become a burden for their three children, one of their sons would allegedly even beat them up if his demands for money or jewellery were not met. Choudhury, a resident of Bachamari Colony of Old Malda, was a small-time trader. He has two sons and a daughter. After daughter Pritikana’s marriage, Prasanta used to live with his two sons — Prabhat and Pradip. As his failing health stopped him from running the business, Choudhury bought a cow. Apart from the income from selling the milk, the only other source of income was Niva’s occasional job as a midwife. However, her age put a stop to that, too. Meanwhile, the elder son, Prabhat, got married to a local girl, Chameli, and took over his father’s trade of selling ‘papad’. Soon, he separated himself from his parents and his younger brother followed in his footsteps. But separation did not stop Prabhat from demanding money from his parents. He would allegedly come to his parents’ house regularly and threaten them if his demands were not met. “Prabhat and his wife would often come and demand money from us. They even threatened to take away the cow, our only source of income,” said a weeping Choudhury. But the worst was yet to come. On Monday, Prabhat and his wife allegedly broke into his parents’ house and demanded gold jewellery from his mother. On being refused, Prabhat even beat up his father and Niva, too, was injured as she tried to save him. The hapless couple went to local RSP leader Sarbananda Pandey, who took them to the subdivisional officer. “It is inhuman to torture such an old couple, and in this case, they are their parents. We certainly could not accept it,” said Pandey. SDO Prakash Pal said an inquiry has been ordered. “If the complaint is proved true, the son could get severe punishment under the recently passed Maintenance and Welfare of the Parents and Senior Citizens Act,” he said.