Noida: Two sisters holding doctorate degrees, who locked themselves up in their home for seven months after falling into deep depression over the death of their father, were rescued on Tuesday in a state of acute starvation, police said.
The women, left to fend for themselves and in a state of utter loneliness, have been admitted to Kailash Hospital in Noida.
According to a police officer, the sisters - Anuradha Behl, 41, and Sonali, 38 - had shut themselves up in their house No.326 in the posh Sector-29 of Noida for seven months after their father Colonel (retired) O.P. Behl died two years ago.
They had lost their mother earlier.
However, Superintendent of Police (City) Anant Dev said their father had died in an accident and their mother shortly afterwards.
Anuradha suffered multiple organ weakness due to insufficient vitamin intake, said Sarika Chandra, the attending doctor at Kailash Hospital.
Sonali is also in a state of deep depression, she added.
Police, acting on information from neighbours, had to break open the door when the sisters -- both unmarried -- refused to open the door, Anant Dev said.
Their younger brother Vipin Behl, who lives in Sector-50 of Noida with his wife and children, and a maternal uncle used to look after them. But after falling into depression, the two sisters were not cooperating with them, said inspector Vijay Prakash of Sector-20 police station.
'After the death of their parents, Vipin and a maternal uncle used to support them. When their savings exhausted and the sisters stopped cooperating with them, the brother and the uncle dragged their feet,' the police officer said.
'That situation forced the sisters into isolation. Taking a note of severe isolation the Residents Welfare Association officials contacted social activist Usha Thakur after they failed to persuade the sisters to open the door,' the officer added.
The two women had a dog, which died about two and half months ago.
Anuradha has done her Ph.D after completing her course in chartered accountancy. She had left her accountancy practice after her parents' death.
Sonali also has doctorate in history.
'When we opened the door, everyone started vomiting because of the foul smell. The elder woman was half naked on her bed. She could not speak and did not know what was going on. So I called Kailash Hospital,' Usha Thakur, who accompanied police, told reporters.
According to Vijay Prakash, Anuradha was still unconscious while being brought out of the house, but Sonali was stable and could manage to speak.
When the door was opened, the women asked for water.
Thakur said: 'I think they are mentally disturbed... their brother also left them and went to Sector 50. There was no one to console or talk to them.'
Their food came from some canteen, she said.
'The neighbours said the food used to be kept outside the door,' she added.
According to Sandeep Vohra, a psychiatrist, it could be a case of extreme emotional withdrawal.
Noida, Apr 13 : One of the two sisters, rescued from their Noida flat after they locked themselves in following severe depression over their father's death, died at Kailash Hospital here Wednesday.
"Anuradha, the elder sister, died at around 7.30 a.m. A lot of factors led to the death," Superintendent of Police Anant Dev told IANS in this suburban city adjoining the capital.
Psychologists suggest acute social apathy led to sisters' plight
It could also be social apathy towards mental health that leads to situations like in Noida where two sisters remained locked up in their house for seven months while the neighbourhood failed to realise the gravity of their pain, psychologists said.
"There is so much stigma attached to mental health in the society that people don't come out to help those in need," city based psychologist Monica kumar told IANS Tuesday.
There is acute lack of awareness about the ways to help such people who move away into isolation, Kumar added.
Instead of abandoning people suffering from similar mental condition, they should be given proper psychological counselling and care and be involved in community activities, said the expert.
Psychologists are, however, uncertain about what caused the sisters to take such an extreme step.
'It could be extreme depression or depression underlined by some sort of psychotic element in it. In a case like this, both the daughters must have been emotionally dependent on their father and he may have been the one taking all the decisions for them,' said Vohra.
This could also happen to people who are deeply introvert in nature, he added.
Noida: A day after the two Behl sisters were rescued from their Noida house, 47-year-old Anuradha, the elder sister, died on Wednesday.
An inquiry has been ordered into the self-confinement of two Noida sisters for seven months. A team of the National Commission for Women will investigate whether the two sisters - Anuradha Behl and Sonali Behl - were neglected and will submit its report within 15 days.
The enquiry was ordered just a few hours after Anuradha died.
Having locked themselves up without food for months, the younger of the two sisters, Sonali, continues to battle for her life and is monitored now also by a psychiatrist. Their brother Vipin says he didn't know it had come down to this.
"I was helpless. Even if I wanted to help them, they refused everything...my hands were tied. I am the youngest one and they were not listening to me," said Vipin Behl.
The National Commission for Women slammed civil society for what they called neglect but neighbours of the Behl sisters said they had tried several times to help, but were told categorically to stay away.
At the time of Vipin's wedding, we came to know that the sisters find the match and she took all the initiatives...she was very thrilled, exited and happy," their neighbour Dr MJU Khan.
The owner of the grocery shop, from where the sisters usually ordered from, said he had rarely seen the sisters at his shop. All purchases were made over the phone and the payment, surprisingly, made through cheques.
Both the sisters were educated - Anuradha was a chartered accountant while Sonali was an IT professional.
Both parents died in quick succession. Father in a road accident in Agra in 1991 and Mother in 1995 of a heart attack. A year later, Anuradha quit her job in 1996.
In 2007, their brother Vipin got married and a few months later, moved out. Sonali too left her job in 2008 because she wasn't happy. And their dog died in 2009.
Vipin said, he last saw his sisters in September 2010 and they told him to leave them alone.
Neighbours said that both the sisters were very close to their brother, and were devastated when Vipin and his wife left home after their marriage. A dog they had adopted, died in 2009, and could have been yet another reason why the sisters went into depression.
Psychiatrists at the hospital attending to Sonali said, it is extremely difficult medicaly to determine when the two first showed the signs of mental illness.
Was it helplessness when their parents died? Loneliness after a brother left home? Grief at having lost a pet or some thing more? One can only imagine what went on behind the doors of the Behl residence in Noida.
source
No comments:
Post a Comment