Nazia Shaikh, a 73-year-old woman, feels grateful towards the court of judicial magistrate (first class) JA Kotnis, which recently directed her son and daughter to provide her with shelter and maintenance as means for her livelihood.

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Nazia had filed a private complaint on October 3 before the court under the the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, against her son, daughter, daughter-in-law and son-in-law. The petitioner is the mother of Atiq (39) and Shaina (38) and was residing with her son and daughter-in-law, Mehnaz, at her paternal residence in Bhawani Peth for the last 17 years.

However, her son and daughter-in-law started harassing her mentally and physically last year in August during the month of Ramzan. According to the complaint, her son beat up Nazia. Finally, she filed a complaint with the Kondhwa police station through a social organisation, Chetana Mahila Vikas Kendra.

A compromise took place among them and her son agreed to give Rs2,000 for her needs and Rs1,500 for maintenance. It was also decided that the senior citizen would live in the Kondhwa residence owned by her daughter.

Later, however, the respondents in the case did not behave well with her and failed to look after her daily needs like gas cylinder and electricity. On October 2, her daughter and son-in-law drove her out of the house and locked the apartment.

Considering the state of the homeless senior citizen, the court conducted the hearing and directed her daughter, Shaina, to allowed Nazia to use her flat.However, only the kitchen and terrace was given to her for use in the settlement between them. The court directed her son to pay her Rs1,500 on the 10th of every month.

During the hearing, the court observed that it is prima facie seen that she had been evicted from the house in spite of the compromise. If she was not provided with shelter, the possibility of endangering her life could not be ruled out. "If the petitioner is not given shelter, she would face hardship," the court observed.(Names of the victim and her relatives in this report have been changed to protect their privacy.)