JAGATSINGHPUR: A woman, who was chained and confined in a room for 18 years, was rescued by a non-government organisation with the help of police on Saturday. Anjali Lenka (42), of Darada village under Balikuda police limits, has been admitted to SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack for treatment. According to Bipin Chaudhry, a member of Cuttack-based NGO ‘Odisha Legal and Social Association,’ all was fine with Anjali till the 1999 super cyclone shattered her life.
Married to Susant Biswal of Jagannathpur village under Balikuda police limits about 25 years back, the couple has two children. During the super cyclone, the family lost all their belongings that left Anjali shell-shocked. Her plight turned for the worse after the death of her husband due to brain cancer, a few years later. With no money to treat Anjali, her inlaws shifted her to her parental house while her children stayed with them.
Anjali’s father Nityananda Lenka spent thousands of rupees towards her treatment but as she did not recover, they kept her in an isolated thatched room by tying her limbs. After Anjali escaped from the house by digging a hole on the thatched roof and attacked some locals, the family decided to chain her.
Nityananda said, “As only the toilet room is a concrete structure, we kept her there with her limbs tied.” Family members used to serve her food in the room, which was also used as a toilet, he added. Balikuda police station IIC Ajay Muduli said a police team, with the help of NGO volunteers, rescued the woman from the toilet where she was confined with her limbs tied.