Bijepur: The district administration Wednesday rescued 48 years old Sanikat Sahu who had been in chains for past four years at Sadar village of T.Gandapali panchayat in Bargarh district. The move came after the Orissa POST carried a report on his troubled life.
Collector Indramani Tripathy directed district health department and, in turn, the health department directed the local community health centre (CHC) officials to rescue Sanikat.
A team led by Dr Shantanu Sahi of the CHC visited Sadar village and examined Sanikat. Thereafter, pharmacist Vijeta Mishra took him and some of his family members to VIMSAR in Burla. He has been admitted at ward no 11 of department of psychiatry in VIMSAR, it was learnt.
Sanikat used to live with his family comprising of his parents, wife and three children. Even though they did not own much land, Sanikat’s work as a daily wager saw them through. His sudden illness, however, put their finances in ruins.
To get his son cured, Sanikat’s father Murali Sahu had to beg for help from friends and relatives. Even though he took his son to VIMSAR in Burla, the doctors there suggested Sanikat to be suffering from a psychological disorder that needed expensive advanced treatment.
Since it was not possible on Murali’s part to manage the finances to continue with the treatment, he had to bring Sanikat home. Back home, Murali tried everything he could afford — starting from traditional Ayurvedic healers to sorcerers — to treat him, but all proved futile. His condition instead deteriorated further. He behaved abnormally, roamed aimlessly and caused trouble for the family.
Finding no other way out to control Sanikat, they began chaining him. And that had been his life for last four years.
PNN