While doing so, Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas held that unless there is a total and complete abandonment of the parent, the offence of abandonment of senior citizen punishable under Section 24 of the Act cannot be said to have been committed.
“The term ‘abandoning’ requires total neglect. The said term when prefixed by the word ‘wholly’ indicates absolute and complete abandonment… Thus unless there is a total and complete abandonment of the parent by leaving him in a place without any arrangement for taking care of the senior citizen, the offence cannot be said to have been committed. The transportation of a parent between the children could be for various purposes and even based on an understanding arrived at either between the children or between the parent and the child.“, the Court explained in its judgment.
Therefore, leaving a senior citizen somewhere with requisite arrangements for their care would not constitute ‘abandonment’, the Court said.
Source: Barandbench
