Caretaker fired for thrashing elderly woman at Mira Road old age home

Residents at the old age home, Aadhar Wellness Centre, at Mira-Bhayandar where the incident took place. Pic/Hanif Patel

The day mid-day's report on a caretaker who assaulted an elderly resident at an old age home was published, she was fired ('Video of elderly woman being abused in old age home goes viral' January 24). The woman, Lalita Pujari, 45, had been working at the Aadhar Wellness Centre at Mira-Bhayander, for past three years.

Pujari has two children (a daughter aged around 17 years and son aged around 11). She was staying in Khar with her sister after the death of her husband. While looking for a job, she came in contact with Dr Ashok Desai, the owner of Aadhar. He not only gave her the job and shelter, but he also took on the responsibility of her children's education. Pujari had been staying at the old age home with her children and had the job of looking after the residents.

'Act can't be tolerated'
"This cruel inhuman act of Pujari cannot be tolerated. We have taken action and fired her. Four caretakers including two men and two women work in my old age home. I have always taught them that there is no difference between a child and an old person. They should be looked after as if they are children," said Dr Desai.

He added, "The woman who was assaulted is an octogenarian who has been living here for past one year. She is from Sion. The incident took place on January 20 when she was being given medicine. I was not present. I want to make sure no such incident takes place again in the home. The police had come to the home again today, and they asked the woman who was assaulted to lodge a complaint, but she refused."

Sanjay Kumar, additional superintendent of police, Thane rural, said, "We had sent our officials to the old age home. They spoke to every person there, but no one revealed any details about the incident. Our team even asked the alleged victim to lodge a complaint but she refused. We have asked the senior inspector of Kashimira police station to conduct an inquiry."

When asked why the police were not taking suo motu action, Kumar said, "We have to check the authenticity of the video first. Nowadays hundreds of fake and doctored videos become viral on various social media platforms. We will check the video first and definitely take action."

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