Startling revelations about the “inhuman living conditions and human rights violations” at a home for mentally challenged women in the city have been made in a report submitted before the Delhi high court on Wednesday.
As a committee of lawyers submitted its report comprising pictures clicked during a surprise check at Asha Kiran Home in Rohini, a bench of Acting Chief Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Rajiv S. Endlaw severely criticised the Delhi government and the NGO Hope Foundation, which together run the home for destitute and mentally challenged women.
“There cannot be any worse human rights violation than this. The living conditions (at the home) are inhuman. How can you keep them like cattle?” the court retorted after seeing the pictures submitted by the committee formed earlier by it. The court issued showcause notice and sought a detailed affidavit from the Delhi government’s ministry of social welfare asking for total number of inmates at the home and the number of staff to maintain the place. The court also sought the presence of the home’s administrator on July 25, the next date of hearing.
The lawyers, who had inspected the home on July 14, alleged that it does not have adequate staff to take care of inmates and the women live there amidst inhuman conditions.
“The women are not provided adequate clothing. They are mostly covered with insufficient clothes and are not provided any undergarments,” one of the lawyers told the court. Their medical needs, especially during menstruation, are seldom taken care of, she added.
The lawyers alleged that during their visit, they found the women bathing in the open without clothes. They further claimed that no senior officer was available and a security guard had illegally detained them following instruction from his senior.
Appearing for Delhi government, counsel Shobhna Takiar said the home is overcrowded as its capacity is 300 while 950 members are staying there at present. She also told the bench that the government has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the alleged misbehaviour of the staff with the lawyers.