Punish the guilty

Sir, - Does any clause of the Mental Health Act stipulate that mentally disabled patients should be kept shackled like wild animals in circuses? The authorities running the asylum should be sued and given severe punishment for their utter negligence and mismanagement of the shelter and treatment of the inmates which resulted in their gruesome deaths. The punishment to the guilty would be a lesson to others running similar asylums.

H. Narayanan,

Bangalore

* * *

Sir, - While condemning the Erwadi disaster we should not lose sight of the causes that led to the calamity. As somebody who hails from the same taluk where the dargha is situated, I would like to reveal a few facts about the mythical ``Avulia'' who settled here 65 years ago and spent his last days in a camp cot. That the British Government was looking for him and the Erwadi dargha was the last place they would have expected a well-to-do Musalman to live in penury, is another matter.

Legends proclaim that he was able to find loopholes in the British import and export laws and managed to flaunt an anchor made of gold for his little ship and moved gold under their nose from one country to another.

For the Congressmen, who were part of the freedom movement, the ``Avulia'' was God-sent. They protected him to his last days and gave him martyrdom when he breathed his last. It was convenient for the freedom fighters to hail him as a benevolent sage who could perform miracles by curing the ailments of the mentally-deranged by adopting a pattern of treatment followed in a Hindu temple at Gunaseelam in Tiruchi. The ``Avulia'' myth was encouraged by a few intellectuals in the interest of Hindu-Muslim unity to fight British imperialism.

Neither Prophet Mohammed ordained that all mentally retarded be brought and chained in the precincts of Erwadi dargha, nor Sankaracharya advised people to go there for their emancipation.The interpreters of religion, who do so for their own benefit, are the culprits about whom we should educate the gullible public.

S. Charuhasan,

Chennai

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Sir, - This has reference to Dr. T. N. Srinivasan's letter ``Where are we heading?'' (Aug. 10). As a member of the same fraternity, I welcome his message. It is beyond any doubt, that corrupt medical facility, near total commer-cialisation of private medical practice, callous attitude of the families of the mentally ill and the inhuman cashing in of the situation by the unscrupulous so-called faith-healing agencies and quacks, amount to mushrooming of places of the likes of Erwadi in the country.

We accept the Erwadi incident as an ugly black mole on us and we also demonstrate the character and integrity to redeem ourselves from here on thereby putting an end to the victimisation of those who seek our guidance.

S. Selvakumaran,

Erode

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