Press Release

Rescuing of the innocents from the inhuman torments of a paranoiac

Detail of rescue operation

Three children, chained and locked in a shack at an aloof farm, 500 metres north of the famous Ganesh Temple "Karyabinayak" in Bungamati (VCD-1) in Lalitpur district of Nepal, were rescued from their horrifying situation on the 10 the August 2005. Based on the information received by CWIN-Helpline's hotline (00 977 4271000), CWIN initiated the case immediately. A Team, led by CWIN Helpline with the help of LACC (Legal Aid and Consultancy Centre), St. Xavier's Social Service Centre and Police-Women and Children Cell, rescued the children with joint support from Bungamati Police Station.

Among the three rescued girls, one is mentally disabled and was found in a state of severe mental stress, while the other two girls are mentally sound. These two girls were able to give their names: Sita Laxmi and Gita Laxmi (names chaged), but the mentally disabled girl was not in a state to tell her name.

When the rescue team reached the scene of the incident, the mentally disabled girl of approximately 10 years of age, was found inside the stinky and dirty open-shack with merely a tin roof: her legs were chained in a metal braced and locked. The shack was floored with the stones collected from riverbanks and she was found placed on a jute sack. Inside the shack, to the east side were two vessels made by about 5 litre plastic buckets by cutting in between. One vessel was used to feed the child while the other one was used for toilet purposes. The place was full of excretions and the child was frequently moaning "its stinking" etc. Several meters northeast of the farm, there were two more shacks made of 3 brick walls. In these shacks were two children of age 4 and 6 with a man of around 50 years. The place was floored with the pieces of sarees. In another shack at the northern side, a 37 years old mentally disturbed woman sat, unaware of what was happenings around her. According to the locals, the man brought that woman there just few days before the rescue.

When the team, with 15 to 20 members of the media and another 30 to 35 locals arrived at the place, the man, found with the girls, who calls himself "Maila Shakya" started shouting "you all are here to steal my children and wife…..I will not spare you", while shouting this he started to undress himself and even threw the children's excretions from the vessels to the crowd. When he saw people approaching closer, he started scolding his (so-called) wife abusively (the mentally disabled woman) and ordered her to undress herself. The present locals claimed that this was Recommon occurance whenever someone from the community went there. When the police arrived, the woman unlocked the girls.

The children were rescued with the cooperation of local police and the District Police Office (DPO) and were brought to the Police-Women and Children Cell at Lalitpur. After mutual discussion between SP Madhav Prasad Joshi of DPO, the children were handed over to CWIN for their necessary protection and shelter. The culprit "Mahila Shakya" is still being held in detention for further investigation.

Locals claimed that the culprit was a mentally sick person, who forcibly brought women with unsound mental conditions and kept them chained and locked in shacks. He would then tell members of the community th t these women were his wives. According to his community members, during the last 8 years, he had brought many women and kept them as wives and some even gave birth to new ones. Later he himself boasted of having 51 wives like them.

Similarly, the community also reported that he had brought several mentally retarded and unwell girls and kept them chained like he had with the other women. They also reported that he only brought girls
(never boys), who would be kept there for few days and then disappeared.

"Mahila Shakya" works daily as a porter and also at a local fair ground. With the money he earns, he feeds the children and woman. However, due to lack of hygiene and clean food, the children found malnourished and also had skin diseases, swollen ears and suffered cold. The lower half of the children was not covered with any clothes and were also not given
any blanket for the nights.

About "Mahila Shakya"

Mahila Shakya is the resident of Bungamati where he owns a nice house. He has a first wife and 3 sons of 20-25 years in the house. Due to family disputes, he has been living in a shack on his own farm. He works seasonally on his farms and also works as porter to sustain his life. A few years back, he started showing sudden changes in his behaviour and since then he has been living separately with his family and community people. After sometime, he has even started bringing mentally disturbed women to his shacks and due to this, he was severely criticized by the community, labelled "mad" and "perverted". Society did not approve his behaviours of bringing women and children and so he became irritated and began to hate them. Whenever anyone tried to go to his shacks to inquire about the women and children, he foul mouthed them and even threw the excretions towards them and chased them away by appearing naked. If someone would go to his shacks, he would appear with so called wives and children, all naked. Because of this no one dared to spoke against him and were afraid, even to look at the direction of his farm.

Statement from his first wife and sons:

According to the statement given by Mahila Shakya's first wife and sons, in Police-Women and children Cell on 12 th August, he has been living separately since past 3 years and that he was living all alone in the farm and used to bring mentally disturbed women to his shacks. They said he was mentally sick from the beginning, and all of these were his perverted activities. One of the rescued girls was born by one of the similar retarded women who died after some time of giving birth. Similarly, he brought one girls who was found according to him in the riverside. He also brought the mentally retarded girls when she was 2 years when he found her abandoned in streets.

Further process:

Children have been kept under CWIN's protection after the rescue operation. The children were taken to Patan hospital for gynaeco test and other physical tests on 12 th August. Mahila Shakya has also been taken to Patan Mental hospital for the checkup. According to the doctor, they can give a conclusion about mental state of Mahila Shakya, only after 3 days of regular testing. The further legal processes are being looked after by the network of CWIN Helpline, LACC and the Police-Women and Children Cell at Lalitpur District Police Office.

Date: 17 August 2005