Bhammipura (Ludhiana), April 27
A mentally challenged youth, chained to a pillar for the past more than seven years by members of his family in this non-descript village, over 50 km from Ludhiana, was freed by a team of the Jagraon sadar police here this afternoon. The youth was tied in a tubewell room in fields outside the village.

The youth, Kuldip Singh Kippa, was a good football player. He was shifted to the civil hospital at Jagraon. Members of his family claimed that they had kept him chained because he had turned violent and used to attack his relatives.

The police booked and arrested the youth’s father Maghar Singh and elder brother Gursharan Singh. No action was taken against the village panchayat members.

The youth’s mother Sukhdev Kaur and sister Rupinder Kaur, who were sobbing uncontrollably, told The Tribune that they had tried every possible treatment for the youth, but could not succeed. “We are not cruel people. We took him to various doctors in Ludhiana and elsewhere, but no one could treat him,” they said.

They said they loved Kippa and did not want him to live in mental asylums where, they had heard, such persons were beaten up. They said he was better chained in his own house than in a mental asylum. They showed diagnosis slips and reports of electroencephalograms of the youth.

The family owns about 15 acres. There was talk in the village that other members of his family wanted to grab his share in the property.

The SHO of the sadar police station said the police got to know about the case from a vernacular daily and after confirmation from the villagers, raided the house. A team of The Tribune was present at the time of the raid.