Her ‘nightmare’ is on

There seems to be no end to the struggles life has thrown her way. She’s still fighting ‘the system’ for her children’s well being. This time, to spend a quiet Diwali with them.

There seems to be no end to the struggles life has thrown her way. She’s still fighting ‘the system’ for her children’s well being. This time, to spend a quiet Diwali with them.

HT Image

Six days after they were shifted to yet another mental health facility, the three sexually-abused siblings (whose tales of harassment by their school cab driver shocked Delhi) are allegedly being tormented by their fellow inmates at the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IBHAS) in east Delhi.

Their mother, a 32-year-old widow, says, “Last night, a mentally-ill woman lodged in the cubicle next to ours, chased my 10-year-old son with a plastic chair. My youngest boy has been assaulted twice. Why are we here in the first place? My children are not insane,” she told HT.

Experts say it was a bad idea in the first place. “Due to lack of proper facilities for children of such abuse in the city, they are lodged in general wards. This traumatises them further,” said Dr Rajat Mitra, director, Swanchetan, an NGO.

“We met the family atleast four times, when they were at the Lok Nayak Hospital and asked the mother whether she would like to get her children treated there, to which she agreed. This is a purely voluntary agreement — the family is free to leave whenever they wish,” said Dr Nimesh Desai, senior psychiatrist at IBHAS.