| Cold shivers mentally challenged, police fail to shift them to psychiatric hospital | | R S Pura SDM's direction to SHOs of R S Pura, Miran Sahib police stations in this regard not complied with | | Akshay Azad
Early Times Report
Jammu, Dec 30: At a time when heating appliances, quilts, blankets and winter wears are found insufficient to fight the bone chilling cold, one can well imagine what will happen to a person spending a night under the open sky and that too with few tattered blankets and jute bags.
Nearly half a dozen mentally challenged persons are said to be spending days and nights under the open sky on Miran Sahib-R S Pura road but the SHOs of R S Pura and Miran Sahib police stations have so far not bothered to shift these "Men of Lesser God" to psychiatric hospital, Amphalla, despite directions from Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) R S Pura, Rajinder Sharma.
Sharma had on December 27 last asked the two SHOs to shift all mentally challenged persons in their areas to psychiatric hospital, Ambphalla, under Section 23 and 25 of Mental Health Act 1987.
HR activist of Miran Sahib, O P Khajuria informed Early Times that three mentally challenged persons were spending chilling nights under the open sky at R S Pura and one woman at Miran Sahib with scant winter wears.
"The mentally challenged woman at Miran Sahib is spending nights on footpath and has not even worn any winter wear. I approached the R S Pura SDM on December 27 with an appeal, who in turn directed the police officials concerned for shifting all of them to psychiatric hospital, Amphalla, under Mental Health Act 1987 immediately", he said.
He regretted that even after the lapse of nearly three days, the police officials had failed to show pity towards these victims.
"Even our soul starts shivering, after imagining of spending nights in open sky but these mute victims bear no importance for anyone and are leading an animal life", he said.
He feared that these victims might fall prey to Hypothermia, leading to their death. "Even a case will not be registered if they meet their unfortunate ends", he said, and appealed higher police authorities to shift all the mentally challenged people, who were spending nights on roads, to hospital without any further delay.
Miran Sahib police station SHO Mohammad Iqbal was found unaware of Mental Health Act 1987 and said that it was the responsibility of victims' parents to provide them shelter. When asked if anyone knows about their parents, he said many of them had parents and it was not the responsibility of police to shift them to hospital. When asked if they have received any application, he replied in negative. Surprisingly, SDM RS Pura office had dispatched letters to both the SHOs on December 27. It reached the R S Pura police station the same day but Miran Sahib police station SHO claimed that no letter had reached him.
R S Pura police station SHO Abid Rafiqqi said though they had received the application, action would be taken at an appropriate time. "It is an official work. We have to arrange vehicle for shifting. They will not be shifted by foot", he said.
When asked if PS RS Pura had no vehicle, he skipped the reply and said that an officer had been assigned the duty for shifting them and whenever "he comes, all would be shifted".
When asked, if any of them dies due to the delay in their shifting to hospital, the SHO said they were not being shifted to save them from cold but they were being shifted because they were mentally challenged. "It would take two to three more days in their shifting", he said. |
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