'Abandonment' Of Senior Citizen Requires Total Neglect, No Arrangements For Care: Kerala High Court

In the case, petitioner’s sister had filed a complaint alleging that he had abandoned their elderly father, who suffered from age-related illnesses, by sending him in a taxi from Ernakulam to Thiruvananthapuram. The complaint accused him of not providing adequate care for their father.

A Bench of Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas held, “The term ‘abandoning’ requires total neglect. The said term when prefixed by the word ‘wholly’ indicates absolute and complete abandonment. The word ‘wholly’ is explained in P Ramanatha Aiyer’s Law Lexicon 4th Edition as “entirely, completely, fully, totally and in every respect”. 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.”

Advocate KR Vinod appeared for the Petitioner and Advocate Ashi MC appeared for the Respondent.

Petitioner’s counsel argued that the complaint was baseless and motivated by malice, being filed three months after the alleged incident. They contended that arranging transportation for their father to his daughter's house did not constitute abandonment as per the law.

On the other side, the Public Prosecutor argued that the matter warranted a trial for proper adjudication and opposed the quashing of proceedings at that stage.

The Court carefully examined the provisions of the Act, noting that the FIR erroneously cited Section 20(3) instead of the correct provision, which was Section 24. Section 24 of the Act specifies that abandonment involves leaving a senior citizen in any place with the intention of wholly abandoning them, emphasizing the term "wholly" to denote complete neglect.

The Court added, “It is evident that the offence arises when a senior citizen or a parent is abandoned wholly by a person who is bound to take care of the senior citizen/parent. The complaint filed by the defacto complainant indicates that the petitioner had arranged a taxi for the parent to travel from Ernakulam to Thiruvananthapuram to reach the daughter's house of the senior citizen. The very fact that a taxi was arranged to transport the senior citizen/parent to his daughter's house indicates that there was no abandonment as contemplated by law”

Moreover, the Court observed that the complaint was filed by petitioner’s sister and not by the elderly father himself, indicating potential familial discord rather than genuine concern for the father's welfare.

Consequently, the Kerala High Court decided to quash the proceedings, finding that the allegations did not meet the legal threshold for the offence of abandonment under the Act.

Cause Title: Dr. Pramod John v. State of Kerala, [2024:KER:48182]

Appearance:

Petitioner: Advocates KR Vinod, MS Letha, Nabil Khader, and Rahul S