Kolkata: Police have arrested Probal Acharya for allegedly hiring goons to throw out his 90-year-old mother from her own house. The incident happened at the suburban town of Barasat where locals suddenly saw people dumping a very old woman onto the street and leaving in a rush.

Upon further probing, police realised that the woman had been forced out of her home by her son, who had begun to consider her a burden on his family. The woman, who is undergoing treatment at a local hospital, was in tears while narrating the incident.

“This is an unbelievable situation where a son who is also aged above 50 years can dump [his] own mother on the roads, considering her a burden on him,” said a visibly upset police officer.

Other police officers who had interviewed her feel that the courts should give the son harsh punishment as incidents of children mistreating elderly parents have become common in the state.

The woman has seven children and all of them refused to give her shelter.

The woman reportedly old police that all the houses that her children live in were built by her husband and after his death she never imagined that she would face such behaviour.

“The incidents of mistreating elderly parents have become common place where many are subjected to hardships including physical and mental torture,” said human right activist and lawyer Sukanya Goswami.

There have been several incidents of late where neighbours have had to intervene to save the elderly. “In my locality, an elderly man suffering from severe heart disease was kept under lock and key by [his] own daughter so that he can die without medicines and any treatment. Before that the daughter forced her father to sign off all properties belonging to him,” said Goswami.

The state government, aware of this social menace, has started an awareness programme on various radio and television channels warning people of the legal consequences of mistreating the elderly. “This is indeed is a major social issue, as the number of such incidents have risen in the last few years,” said city police chief Rajiv Kumar.

Sociologists say that the breakdown of family values and the age-old joint family system have resulted in this behaviour. “In many ways the city has become an old-age home where their children have left abroad for better [lives], leaving their parents alone. Others may be in the same city but live separate lives completely ignoring the needs of their parents,” said Usha Ganguly, a sociologist.