Rajkot: A 60-year-old mentally ill woman who had been kept chained to a pole outside a house since for several years in Mirzapar village near Bhuj in Kutch was rescued on Thursday by the officials of the social justice department.
According to Bhuj social defence officer N S Chauhan, the woman was tied to the leg with an iron chain outside the hut by her relatives. Her relatives believed that the woman was under influence of some evil spirit because of which she was acting in such a manner, he added.
Chauhan and his team rushed to Mirzapar village as soon as they got information about the woman. “The woman is mentally ill since the age of 13. But since past 10 years she has been suffering from severe problems, according to her relatives and their neighbours. They further said that if left untied she would go away without telling anybody and behave weirdly,” he said and added that since the woman’s relatives were uneducated they did not know how to deal with her.
“We have rescued the woman and sent her to mental hospital,” he added.
According to the neighbours, the woman was unmarried and living with her brother’s family. “According to doctor, her mental condition has deteriorated because of the way she was being treated. Her family members are small farm labourers. We have currently not filed police complaint against them as our focus is on treating the woman,” said Chauhan.