Woman forced to lead life in confinement

Kendrapada, Sept 25: A 36-year-old hapless woman, a resident of Mahadeipur under Aul block of Kendrapara district, has been forced to lead a wretched life in a confined room for more than two decades on the pretext that she has lost her sanity.

Swarnaprava has been languishing as her family members locked her in a dingy room after she started behaving abnormally at the age of 16. Since then she has been provided with food from a hatch.

Her poor parents failed to provide medical treatment for her mental disorder. Finding no other alternative, they decided to keep her in a small room isolated from the family members.

For 20 years, Swarnapava has been leading life in confinement in the small dark room, measuring 6 feet long and 6 feet wide, unfit even for an animal to take shelter.

The villagers had urged her father Hareskrushna Pandav to get her treated in a government hospital but he did not pay any heed to their appeal, said Tapasini Das, one of the classmates of Swarnaprava.

Justifying the confinement, her poverty-stricken family members said if freed she would pose a major problem not only for the family but also for the villagers. They even apprehended that she might attack the villagers.

According to Sitarani, mother of Swarnaprava, some villagers had asked them to confine her in a room after she lost her mental balance and attacked villagers.

A class X drop-out, Swarnaprava became insane at the age of 16 after a brief illness.

UNI