Rights Panel Directs Protection for Elderly Panchkula Couple Amidst Harassment Allegations

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The Haryana Human Rights Commission (HHRC) has intervened to order immediate protection for an elderly couple in Panchkula who allege sustained harassment, neglect, and coercion from their son and daughter-in-law. The directive, issued on Monday, July 21, 2025, underscores the commission’s firm stance against elder abuse and highlights the constitutional right to live with dignity, as enshrined in Article 21.

Shri Arjan Dev Aggarwal, 82, and his 72-year-old wife, Vijay Aggarwal, residents of Sector 9, Panchkula, approached the HHRC seeking urgent relief. Their complaint details a distressing pattern of isolation, verbal abuse, and psychological trauma, despite the couple’s advanced age and severe health conditions requiring multiple surgeries. The elderly couple alleges that their son and daughter-in-law pressured them to transfer ownership of their self-acquired residential property and even taunted them to move into an old-age home. They further claimed that a false case of domestic violence was filed against them as a means of harassment.

Justice Lalit Batra, Chairperson of the Haryana Human Rights Commission, in his order, critically observed that such conduct not only violates the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, but also constitutes a grave infringement of their fundamental right to live with dignity. “Forcing elderly parents to live in fear, without food or care in isolation within their own property constitutes a gross violation of their human rights,” Justice Batra noted, adding that “The psychological abuse, denial of basic necessities and coercion to surrender property against their will are not only morally reprehensible but also legally indefensible.”

The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, stipulates several key provisions aimed at safeguarding the elderly. Under Section 4, senior citizens are entitled to claim maintenance from their adult children. Section 23 allows for any property transferred on the condition of care, if not fulfilled, to be declared null and void. Furthermore, Section 24 makes it a punishable offense to abandon a senior citizen. The Aggarwal couple had previously filed an application for eviction under this Act with the Senior Citizen Tribunal in Panchkula on January 18, 2025, but had yet to receive relief.

Given the prima facie evidence of elder abuse, the Commission has directed the Deputy Commissioner, Panchkula, to ensure immediate protection for the elderly couple through local police or other concerned authorities. The directive also calls for expediting proceedings before the Senior Citizen Tribunal and providing necessary administrative assistance to the complainants to ensure they obtain effective relief without delay. The Deputy Commissioner has been instructed to submit an action-taken report to the Commission before the next hearing, scheduled for September 23, 2025. This decisive action by the HHRC highlights the growing legal and societal recognition of elder abuse as a serious human rights violation requiring urgent and decisive intervention.