Retarded girl kept in shed for 12 years

By No Author
Published: November 28, 2009 08:30 PM
BIRGUNJ, Nov 28: A mentally retarded girl has forcefully been confined to a goat-shed for the last 12 years. Santoshi Thakuri, 18, of Auraha VDC in Parsa district, has been living in the shed ever since she was 6 years old. [break]

Santoshi´s parents tie her to a pole meant for goat every morning when they set out for work. “She goes berserk if left untied,” her mother Kamala explained. “Hence, we don´t ever set her free.”



Kamala said that her daughter keeps mum when shackled but starts to yell as soon as they leave home for work. Santoshi had fallen ill when she was merely two years old. She had passed out after nights of fever. She has been losing consciousness frequently since. “She never recovered from her illness,” Kamala says.

Kamala wants to get her daughter checked up and treated in a modern hospital. She has heard of neurosurgeon Dr Upendra Devkota. “I want him to diagnose my daughter´s illness,” she tells.

Once, she had taken her daughter all the way to Kathmandu. But, she did not get an appointment with the doctor. “I did not have enough money,” she said. She hopes her daughter might get well if Dr Devkota attended her.