Rourkela: The mother-daughter duo rescued by Sundargarh BJP MLA Kusum Tete while they were walking naked on the main road near the Ib bridge in Sundargarh town have been kept under the watch of the district administration. Doctors and psychiatrists are constantly keeping an eye on the duo in the Astha Home they have been lodged in. While the condition of the mother is showing signs of improvement, the daughter is still reported to be under pain and trauma.
Notably, the duo was found crossing the Ib river bridge Friday by BJP MLA Kusum Tete. “The two women were spotted while walking along the College Road, which is one of the busiest roads in Sundargarh, with no clothes on. The road had congested traffic and there were a number of onlookers but nobody even offered them a piece of cloth to cover their bodies,” the BJP leader stated. “I noticed and later rescued them when I was crossing the bridge on Ib River, the MLA said.
On the first day, the doctors kept them sedated. Their counseling started Saturday by the psychiatrist. The daughter was completely silent out of trauma, but her mother was candid to tell everything that happened to them,” said a member of the DCW team. The middle-aged woman was being raped by her brother in law Mithun ever since she got married. The woman has three daughters and two sons, it was learnt. Eventually, Mithun started taking interest in the daughters as they grew up, the woman said.
However, the two elder daughters managed to escape the clutches of their uncle. “She does not know where they are because they, like many other girls of their locality, had gone to work as house help in big cities,” informed the member. The third daughter has a little problem speaking. She also went to work somewhere outside and came back only a year back. By the time she came back, she had almost lost her ability to speak.
However, when Mithun started eying the girl, the mother protested. Subsequently, both of them were abused by their tormentor. Finally, they could not tolerate his abuse and escaped. The duo belongs to Jharkhand and their home is just on the other side of the border, it is learnt. They probably entered Sundargarh from the Sabdega side and took the Balishankara route to the district headquarters. Their counseling will continue from Monday, informed a source. The mother during her discussion with the team had reportedly informed that they were raped on the road several times while coming to Sundargarh.
When contacted, Sundargarh SP Pratyush Diwakar said that efforts are on to identify the two rescued women. All the police stations in Sundargarh and in neighbouring Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have been alerted about the two rescued women and their photographs have been sent for identification. A special police team Monday will visit the short-stay home and question the two survivors about the heinous crime that reportedly occurred with them, the SP added.