'Mentally disabled' woman found chained, naked in rehab centre in Hyderabad

A young woman was found chained and naked in a rehab center, 'Aram Ghar', in Hyderabad. Renuka claimed that a person visits her at night and touches her inappropriately but she has not been able to catch him because there is no light in the room.

However, Basia-Superintendent of 'Aram Ghar'- said that Renuka is suffering from a mental disability because of which her mood changes every hour.

"She will be good for some time and suddenly in the next moment she will become wild. In December, 2014 the police admitted her here. I have many times said not to chain her but the maid does it," he told ANI.

Also read: Mental Healthcare Bill passed in Parliament: All you need to know in 10 points

After watching all the videos, senior psychiatrist Dr Prasad Rao said that it cannot be even said that she is mentally ill. "How they are claiming that she is mentally retarded, and where is humanity going. We don't even chain the mental patients in the extreme conditions," Rao told ANI.

Renuka told ANI that she wants to live with her parents and wants to go to a place where she can play happily.

Also read: Mentally disabled patients found naked, crawling in Delhi's Asha Kiran House by DCW

The Supreme Court, in April, was willing to create a mechanism for rehabilitation of people discharged from mental asylums whose family have been unwilling to take them after their recovery. The court asked the Centre to frame guidelines for rehabilitation of persons who have been cured of mental illness.

The SC even favoured framing a uniform national policy to deal with this issue. According to the Mental Healthcare Bill passed in 2016, a person with mental illness will have the right to make an advance directive in writing specifying the way the person wishes to be cared for and treated for a mental illness.

In fact, the bill which has a "patient-centric" approach assures free treatment for mentally-ill persons if they are homeless or poor.