27-year-old chained for 20 years: NHRC sends Odisha notice

The National Human Rights Commission on Monday issued notice to the Odisha government over a mentally ill person being chained for 20 years in Jagatsinghpur, about 100 km from state capital Bhubaneshwar.

The National Human Rights Commission on Monday issued notice to the Odisha government over a mentally ill person being chained for 20 years in Jagatsinghpur, about 100 km from state capital Bhubaneshwar.

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The commission was acting on a news report that said that Sanjaya Gudiyam, 27, had been chained by his parents as a child, as they were poor and could not afford to treat their son for his mental illness.

"We have issued notice to the Odisha chief secretary and the district magistrate, Jagatsinghpur, to submit a report within four weeks into allegations in a media report that a mentally ill person was chained for 20 years," said an official of the National Human Rights Commission.

The commission observed that the content of the press report, if true, raised a serious issue of the violation of human rights of a mentally ill person.