Eight years in chains

A mentally ill woman in Panchagarh sadar upazila has reportedly been shackled and confined to a room for eight years.

Korsina, a 35-year-old mother of two in the village Horeyapara of Satmera union of the upazila, is said to have become mentally unstable after years of torture by her husband. The couple were separated six years ago.

Visiting her parents’ home, the UNB correspondent found that her left leg was chained to a pillar of the mud house. Iron shackles had badly brusied her right ankle and so where shifted to the left. The shackles were regularly shifted from left foot to right, and right to left.

For eight years, that has been perhaps the only change that Korsina could look forward to, in the midst of an ordeal that is as constant as it is demeaning.

At first sight, nothing about Korsina seems abnormal, except the chains and the jangling sound.

She speaks clearly and is well-mannered. She is also literate. Her problems started well into adulthood.

Korsina sometimes turns aggressive and tries to attack anyone. Whenever she is unshackled, she tends to run away.

Locals and family members said once Korsina was a normal and talented girl. When she was a tenth grader, parents married her off to a certain Nazim Uddin of Manikdoba village in Tentulia upazila.

In around 12 years of married life, she gave birth to a son and a daughter. But family members alleged that the husband used to torture her mentally and physically during the entire period. The torture worsened after she gave birth to their second child, a daughter.

At one stage, Nazim Uddin labelled his wife as ‘insane’ and started confining her to a room, placing iron shackles around an ankle, just as she is now.

Eventually, he sent her back to her parents’ home and divorced her. He married another woman just two months after divorcing Korsina.

Currently, he along with his second wife and two children are leading a happy life. The son is a fifth grader and the daughter is seven-year-old.

But Korsina's illness worsened after her divorce, particularly when her children were indifferent to her.

She always wanted to visit her children, take care of them. When that was taken away from her, the abnormally aggressive behaviour lashed out at anyone, yet no one understood her predicament.

Her family she ran away from home several times.

Once she had been admitted to the mental hospital in Pabna for two months. But her father, a day-labourer, could not afford the cost of the treatment beyond two months.

She was brought back home and kept confined and shackled. She spent around eight years in this condition in a remote village of the country. Sometimes she is given sleeping pills, but they stopped working after a while.

She behaves mostly normal during the day but screams and cries at night, disturbing others.

Nuruzzaman, a neighbour, said her illness is getting worse day by day due to her children ignoring her and her husband's abandonment. She could be cured if provided proper treatment and care, he said.

Alima Begum, Korsina’s mother, said she has no option but to chain her as she tends to run away. “I feel bad to keep her in such a condition, but what can I do?”

Claiming that Korsina was normal before the marriage, her father Kalim Uddin said that she became mentally ill due to torture by her husband.

“Although we had proposed bearing all the expenses of her treatment back then, Nazim divorced her. Now I no longer can afford the cost of her treatment,” he said.

Satmera union parishad chairman Ataur Rahman said she was provided with a VGD card (allowing access to Vulnerable Group Development programme of the government) for her treatment.

The issue was also reported to the deputy commissioner, who assured the family of taking steps to provide medical assistance, he added.