Woman, sevenyearold son found locked in Ludhiana house for a yr
STEPSON BEHIND CRUELTY A team from the district legal services authority rescued the duo on a complaint; both were in a bad condition and could hardly move when found in separate rooms
LUDHIANA: In a shocking incident, a team of the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) rescued a woman, Sudha, 50, and her seven-year-old son, Shiv Kumar, locked for the past one year at a house at CRPF quarters in Dugri on Thursday.
The DLSA team, found to its shock, that it was the 30-yearold step son of Sudha, who had locked up the duo.
Chief judicial magistrate and DLSA secretary, Gurpreet Kaur, had received a complaint from an area resident, Surjeet, and raided the house after forming a team comprising the Ludhiana civil surgeon, a psychiatrist and an advocate.
WOMAN LAY SURROUNDED BY EXCRETA
On entering the house, the team found Sudha lying naked and shivering, on the bed. She was surrounded by urine, rubbish and faeces. The team found that her husband, a PWD employee, had expired last year, making her slip into depression. When found, she could not even stand and barely crawled out of the house.
Her son, Shiv, was found in another room in the house, again amidst a pile of filth. Team members said he was dehydrated and underweight, probably near-death, and could not even move. “Until last year, the boy was happy and went to school. Everything changed after his father’s death. The stepson used to lock them up as he did not want them to run away. The woman made several failed attempts to commit suicide. Once, she even tried to selfimmolate,” CJM Gurpreet Kaur said.
The raiding party conducted a probe to find that after several failed suicide attempts, the woman had lost mental balance. The stepson, also believed to be mentally unfit, started locking them up.
“We questioned the stepson, but he also is mentally unfit,” said a member of the raiding team. The team found that he used to drop some food into the house, ocassionally, but had not visited them for the past few weeks. The first thing women members of the rescue team did was give a bath to Sudha and dressed up. The team has questioned the stepson.
The child has been admitted to Deep Hospital in Dugri and being given free medical aid. The woman is admitted to the civil hospital. The DLSA team will soon draw up a plan to rehabilitate the accused.
DLSA TEAM QUESTIONS NEIGHBOURS
Members of the DLSA team questioned neighbours on their indifference towards the plight of the duo.
“We remanded them on their behaviour, as they were aware that two people had been locked up like animals and chose not to help. Some of them said they served food to the duo for some time, but stopped after learning that the woman was mentally unstable,” said a DLSA team member.