Savaging the civilised? 'madman' set free For Jagdamba Dubey, life begins at 70. Putting asylum 'hospitality' under the scanner, a Jaunpur judge lets him out on bail after 39 years of languishing in the Varanasi mental home
By Suman Gupta Varanasi Bent, And Broken: Jagdamba Dubey finally walks free Photos Ravi Srivastava Since two years after Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's death, the high walls of an asylum comprised the world of 70-year-old Jagdamba Dubey. After 39 years of gruelling confinement and complete isolation, Dubey stepped out of the Varanasi asylum for the first time since 1967, courtesy orders from the district and sessions judge of Jaunpur to produce him. He was happy, humming in joy. The Supreme Court verdict in the Jagjivan Ram Yadav case comes as a wake-up call for asylums in Varanasi. Yadav, detained without trial for 38 years, was freed on bail recently in UP. The immediate beneficiary of the precedent turns out to be a man who's languished in the same state for a year longer than Yadav. It's tale of grave injustice done to a poor man. Hailing from Nizamuddinpur in Jaunpur district of UP, Dubey has spent a lifetime shuttling between jail and asylum in Varanasi. He is almost oblivious of his past; his memory has dimmed with time. References to the past elicit little response. Asked if he wants to go home and get back to tilling the land, Dubey's prompt reply was "Why not?" The only credible connect to his past are official records and his elder brother Tilakdhari. On March 4, 1966, Dubey hit neighbour Sitaram with a spade on the head following a dispute. Sitaram succumbed to injury four days later. A chargesheet was promptly filed within a month and Dubey jailed. On December 28, 1967, he was transferred to the asylum in Varanasi from jail after being adjudged to be in possession of an unstable mind, says his official record. Dubious? Dubey's home for 39 years The Varanasi asylum is a 200-year-old institution with treatment just as antiquated. There are no clinical psychiatrists or counsellors. No relatives are allowed in RP Tripathi, the district and sessions judge of Jaunpur, sought a report on Dubey's mental condition from the Varanasi asylum superintendent and also set up a medical board to examine him. The court also summoned Dubey's elder brother Tilakdhari. He however refused to take Dubey out on bail, maintaining that he was mentally unfit. Ironically, the very mention of Tilakdhari brings cheer to Dubey's face. The asylum in Varanasi is spread over 27 acres and was built 200 hundred years ago. The problem is, their methods of treatment are also as antiquated. "New developments in this field prohibit isolation. That is just not the case here. The asylum houses 350 inmates, but there are only two doctors here. "Apart from the two doctors, there are no clinical psychiatrists or counsellors," bk Bhargava, the superintendent here, says. A five-member committee under the Varanasi district judge was set up to look into the condition of the asylum. "This is probably the only set of outsiders who have been allowed in the asylum for a long time," says an employee. Not even relatives are allowed in. "The patient is escorted to a meeting room and allowed to meet the visitor for an allotted time. The relative usually pays a nominal amount to the caretaker to be kind to the patient. This is the standard practice here," reveals a clerk. "The authorities do not allow any ngo to work in here," he adds, "so the outside world practically has no way to ascertain the condition of inmates." A specialist who had been posted in the asylum in the past says, "There are doctors and ward boys. That's it. How can you run a hospital of this scale without nurses," he wonders. One wonders with conditions like these, sanity would be at a premium. Apr 01 , 2006 _______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
