A 63-year-old woman living alone on the first floor of her parental house was rescued by an NGO, Prabh Aasra, and Chandigarh Police on Tuesday. The woman, Sukhi, was immediately taken to Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, after being rescued.
Surprisingly, her brother, who lives with his family on the ground floor, did not know his sister was ill.
“According to our information, she has not eaten for days and had locked herself in a room. She is suffering from depression,” said Shamsher Singh, a member of the NGO. “We got a mail last evening from a family friend, Navneet Dhillon, and a call from Suhki’s helper Maya at 9.30 pm yesterday. After that, we called the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Chandigarh, Anubhav Sharma, who is secretary, District Legal Services Authority. He then ordered the police to go to the house along with us.”
Maya told Shamsher that Sukhi had not been responding to them for the last three days and not letting them in.
On Tuesday, too, when a police team and members of Prabh Aasra reached her residence in Sector 36, Sukhi did not open the door. The policemen had to jump from the balcony, break the door and then enter the house to rescue her.
The mail by Dhillon reads that Sukhi, daughter of Brig Sampuran Singh, a resident of Sector 36, lived there with her mother after her husband, a resident of Sector 18, left her. Five years ago, her mother died and her brother Col (retd) Sarabjeet Singh came to live here.
“Sukhi was shifted to a single room on the first floor of the house. She has no source of income from her parental property or from her husband,” reads the letter.
“I have come to know from a common friend that Sukhi is ill, under depression, not eating anything and has confined herself to a room for the last many days. She is lonely at home as she is not on good terms with her brother who lives downstairs. She needs immediate medical care and company,” the letter added.
Binny, Sukhi’s sister-in-law, said, “We have a property case going on in the court which she has filed against us. The house we live in has been under litigation for the last five years. Since then, we have no connection with her. We do not know if she meets her husband or if she was ill.”
Sukhi was admitted to the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, where doctors started her treatment for depression and diagnosed her with malnutrition. Inspector Ram Dayal, Station House Officer of Sector 36 police station, said, “We were called for help and we have handed over the woman to the authority concerned, the State Legal Services Authority.”