The People's Union for Civil Liberties has alleged that a 60-year-old woman has been confined to a room in her house for 20 years near Bunts Hostel and that she needs urgent medical attention.
P.B. D'Sa, president of PUCL, Karnataka, who addressed a press conference on Thursday along with the woman's daughter Sheen Sathish (40), now a resident of Bangalore, said the woman had “now lost balance of her mind and memory and is unable to converse properly.”
Ms. Sheen was allowed to visit her mother only after she obtained an order from the Karnataka High Court.
Ms. Sheen distributed copies of her latest complaint, dated August 8, to the State Women's Commission, in which she has said that her mother Siniraj alias Vilasini Raj had been kept “in a room as (being) insane for years to use, utilise, and knock off all her properties — both movable and immovable, including the house which was in her name.”
She has named her father Suresh Raj, another woman living in the house Manorama alias Manuraj, her (Ms. Sheen's) brother Sharun and Ms. Manorama's son Swarun to have meted out this treatment to her mother.
She alleged that the house that was in the name of her mother had been transferred to Mr. Raj by an “alleged GPA (General Power of Attorney) by Sharun Raj in 1999.”
The transaction had taken place when her mother was alleged to be insane, she said.
Responding to the allegations,Mr. Raj told The Hindu that his wife had been a psychiatric patient for 40 years, who needed to be confined to a room.
The house in question was his self-earned property which was in her name and that it had been transferred to his name subsequently.
He denied that he had built the house with the help of money given by his in-laws. He alleged that Ms. Sheen was foisting false complaints against him with an eye on his wealth.
Report rubbished
Ms. Sheen rubbished a report given by an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) to the Commission saying that the allegations levelled by her against Mr. Raj and others earlier were false.
Mr. D'Sa said he would take up the matter with the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission and seek the help of Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh.
