Inmates from Pak jail languish in Indian asylum

Eight people, who were released 10 years ago from Pakistani jails,have been still living in the Institute of Mental Health.

The patients have never been visited by family or relatives even once in the last decade.

The eight, including a woman, were released by Pakistan in 2007, but nobody was there to greet them on this side of the border. Many of them who were admitted to the hospital due to poor health, can’t remember their name and address. The persons have no memory of going to Pakistan or being jailed there.

“Doctor saab mujhe ghar bhej do (doctor, please send me home),” pleads Raj Dev, one of the patients, to the director of the institute, Dr BL Goel. He has also tried to find about their families, but has not been successful. Raj Dev remembers nothing about his stay in Pakistan. “I crossed the border. I was arrested and put in jail,” says Dev. Another patient, Mohammad Kamaal does not even know whether he is in India or Pakistan.

The woman, Maya, who claims to be from Haryana, has also spent 10 years in the institute. The other five patients are Farooq, Gopal Bhagat, Chandi, Ram Dass and Naseem Pal. According to the doctors, torture and isolation in jail can be major reasons for their ill health.

Goel said 17 Indians were released by Pakistan in 2007 and brought to here. “Though nine were taken back by their families, these eight are still here,” he said.