11 lakh elderly in city,only 12,000 in police records

Meanwhile,nobody has been placed permanently in charge of the senior citizen cell of the Delhi Police,which is currently being headed by the Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime). However,the official has to handle other assignments as well.

“The Commissioner of Police had told us a few months ago that the SHO of every police station will hold meetings with senior citizens once in a month. We were also supposed to meet the area Deputy Commissioner of Police once in every two months. However,none of these meeting have taken place till now,” said J R Gupta,chairperson,Confederation of Senior Citizens Associations of Delhi.

Police said while the JCP is in overall charge of the cell,area DCPs monitor the welfare of senior citizens at the local level.

While a 62-year-old woman was brutally attacked during a botched robbery attempt at her residence in Palam,on Thursday night,a 60-year-old widow was attacked by unidentified persons at Amar Colony in Southeast Delhi three days ago. No arrests have been made in any of these cases.

“There is no fear among criminals,and they attack senior citizens at will. Police do not patrol the area regularly,saying that they do not have enough personnel,” said Balbir Singh Yadav,secretary general of the forum.

However,police claim that 12,184 senior citizens are registered with them,and they visit them regularly.

“We always make sure that our staffers visit senior citizens. We also call them regularly to check on them. If our personnel do not visit senior citizens,we take appropriate action. We also ask them to get their domestic help verified,and install safety gadgets,” said JCP (Crime) Sandeep Goyal.