Boys kept chained for years in MP village

Raisen, MP, Feb 19 (UNI) Two mentally-ill, mute, impoverished, minor brothers are being kept in chains for about seven years at their home by kin in this district's Satlapur village about 25 km from Bhopal.

Bhagwati (10) and Ajay Prajapati (12) are confined as their labourer father Dayaram Prajapati does not have money for their treatment. Dayaram said the boys are chained for their own safety as they are abnormal.

Doctors said the proper treatment could cure the kids to a great extent.

''They can lead almost a normal life if they receive treatment in a mental hospital through government assistance,'' said nearby Mandideep Government Hospital's Dr R L Diwakar.

The children's mother Susheelabai claims that she is compelled to keep them chained. She appealed to ministers and doctors but in vain. The brothers were chained right from the time they began walking as they put their fingers in plug sockets and went to the road several times.

Susheelabai hopes that her children would gain admission in a special school after treatment.

UNI XC-AC LPB VC1736