*October 25th, 2010* *NEW DELHI*: They are all between the tender ages of seven and 10. Yet, for these three siblings the trauma of the past one-and-a-half years is hard to overcome. Making matters worse, the 10-year-old girl and her two brothers who were repeatedly sodomized and raped by their school van driver in Prasad Nagar have been suddenly packed off to Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS), Shahdara.
Doctors decided to send them to the hospital for mental illness almost three weeks after they were admitted to LNJP Hospital to recover from shock. The move has startled not only their mother and well-wishers, but also NGOs working for their rehabilitation. The three were sent to the institute located on the campus of Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital six days ago. Their mother fears that mental patients at IHBAS might harm them. "I don't know if they are safe there. They scream in their sleep and need some counselling. But I'm not sure if mental hospital is the right place for them,'' she said. When contacted, Subhas Nagar, a social worker who helped the family pursue the matter with police, said, "What was the sudden need to shift them. None of the kids deserved to be treated in such fashion.'' He later retracted saying the "conditions at IHBAS are fantastic but the mother wants to take them home''. All attempts to contact the medical superintendant of LNJP, Dr Amit Banerjee, failed. Delhi health minister Kiran Walia said, "Dr Rajat Mitra, who was attending to the children is away for two weeks. Dr Desai from IBHAS was visiting LNJP to personally counsel the children. Since travel was cumbersome, we took their mother's permission to shift them. Delhi Police, along with private guards, is providing them security.'' http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6789521.cms -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mental Health Advocacy (News 'N Views) India" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/MhaNewsViewsIndia?hl=en ------------- Affiliated Groups : MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY INDIA [email protected] Discussions on mental health law / policy / plan monitoring / human rights etc [email protected] India-specific news and views related to mental health [email protected] Information and support to carers of people with mental health issues [email protected] Mutual support and sharing of experiential knowledge, skills and social learning amongst peers
