It’s a forlorn, lonely battle for five-year-old Priya, lying in her hospital bed in the emergency ICU ward at NIHMANS. Although it’s been over 48 hours now since she was brought to the hospital, only a woman police constable watches over her while the hospital staff do their best to treat her for her injuries.
Priya was rushed to NIMHANS with an injury on her scalp around 2.30 pm on Wednesday soon after her parents Pawan Sharma (45) and Babita Devi (40) were found murdered in a city hotel in Cottonpet on Wednesday. A CT scan at the hospital showed that the girl had suffered a skull bone fracture and a minor injury to the brain. The woman constable guarding Priya at the hospital said neither NGOs nor any of her relatives had come to visit her yet. “We were told her uncle was coming but no one has come as yet,” she said.
Efforts to contact Meena Jain, chairperson, Child Welfare Committee proved futile. But a lawyer with the CWC, Anupama Hegde, claimed she had no idea about Priya's troubles. “I have no clue about this case. Perhaps our chairperson may know something,” she said.
The good news however is that Priya's condition has improved and while she is responding to physical commands, she is still drowsy and not in a condition to talk. “However, we are worried that Priya may suffer mental trauma even if she recovers physcially as she has witnessed the brutal murder of her parents,” said medical superintendent of the hospital, Dr VL Sateesh,. Dr K John Vijay Sagar, associate professor of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at NIMHANS, explains a child who experiences a catastrophic event can develop post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). “Such children may initially be agitated or confused. They may also display intense fear, helplessness, anger, sadness, horror or denial. Children who experience PTSD may become less responsive emotionally, depressed, withdrawn, and more detached from their feelings. It is then they require immediate psychiatric and psychological intervention,” he said. According to Dr Bhupendra Chaudhury, child psychiatrist at Manipal Hospital, a child can display symptoms of PTSD even a few months to a year after the incident.