Erwadi asylums: Homekeepers seek other control options

By P. S. Suresh Kumar

RAMANATHAPURAM, AUG. 8. The devastating fire that claimed 27 lives at a private mental asylum at Erwadi, also brought freedom for about 600 shackled mentally ill patients following the removal of chains from their feet.

As the Government has imposed a ban on keeping the patients in fetters, the special team headed by Mr. Tamizudeen, District Revenue Officer, visited all the 15 asylums at Erwadi and ensured the removal of chains from their feet. However, few patients were still being kept in fetters within the premises of the local dargha.

Three mentally retarded persons - Kanakaraj of Kanyakumari, Thameer Ahamed of Bangalore and Karutha Kannan of Erwadi - escaped immediately after their chains were removed. However, police managed to nab two of them and are on the lookout for Kanakaraj.

``The Government should come out with some other alternative method to keep the violent patients subdued before enforcing such a ban order. The homekeepers cannot control the violent persons unless they were kept in fetters,'' the homekeepers argued.

Meanwhile, mentally ill patients have started leaving Erwadi following the direction from the district administration to the homekeepers to vacate all of them within three days. The homekeepers had already intimated their parents as well as the relatives to take them to their homes at the earliest.

The dargha premises wore a deserted look today. Only a few pilgrims visited the dargha in the last two days.

Meanwhile, the district administration has sought the assistance of other district Collectors to identify the genuine legal heirs of the deceased to disburse the compensation amount of Rs. 50,000 - Rs. 15,000 from the natural calamity relief fund and Rs. 35,000 from the Chief Minister's relief fund. It would be given to those who produced the legal heir certificate, the Collector, Mr. S. Vijaya Kumar, said.

Closure demand

Mr. Sudarshana Nachiyappan, chairman of the State Congress Human Right Commission, has demanded that the Government take immediate steps to close all the asylums and take action against those responsible for the tragedy.

Speaking to presspersons at Erwadi, the erring (violation of human rights) homekeepers could be arrested under the Indian Lunatic Act 84.

He wanted the Chief Minister, Ms. Jayalalitha, to release the recommendations made by the 12-member committee headed by Dr. Siva Chidambaram, which was constituted by the previous Government to suggest ways to streamline the operation of homes for mentally ill at Erwadi. The Government should also implement all the recommendations made by the committee at the earliest.

Permission denied

Tension prevailed at Erwadi following the denial of permission to Mr. Lakshmanan, BJP MLA to see the inmates of an asylum at Kattupallivasal near a dargha.

The monitoring committee led by Mr. Tamizudeen, District Revenue Officer, visited all the homes to ensure that chains were removed from the feet of all patients. But he was not allowed to enter one such home - Sikkanthar home. The homekeeper, Gubesk Beebi, reportedly kept all the mentally ill women within a locked room.

On hearing this, Mr. Lakshmanan rushed to the spot, but he was not allowed to enter the home. He asked the police to broke open the door of the room and remove the chains.

Our Madurai Staff Reporter reports: The State Government should either order a CB-CID enquiry or institute a judicial commission to go into the details of the Erwadi blaze, the State BJP general secretary, Mr. L. Ganesan, said today.

Expressing concern and anguish over the incident, Mr. Ganesan, while talking to reporters here today, said the mishap could not be treated as an ``isolated case.''

An impartial enquiry alone would bring out the truth behind the devastating blaze.

He also raised serious doubts about the local police's competence in investigating an incident of such magnitude.

These asylums had blatantly violated all norms of human rights and women patients were sexually harassed, he charged.

Welcoming the decision of the apex court to seek a factual report on the blaze, Mr. Ganesan said the functioning of all asylums, run by all places of worship, irrespective of religion, should also be thoroughly probed.

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