A poor woman from Baler Village near Bhikiwind town in the Amritsar village, now in her 70s, had chained her two children to a tree for 22 years as she could not afford the treatment for their mental illness.

Gursahib Singh and Kuldeep Kaur, the mentally disabled children are now in their thirties who had lived a major part of their lives chained to the tree in the house or in a dingy room with hands and feet clasped. The brother-sister had become mentally unstable after they had witnessed their father die in front of their eyes when militants in 1991 had gunned him down.

The fearful mother had resorted to the extreme method of restricting their kids by chaining them to the tree since she worried if they both would hurt themselves or someone else. She had no money to spare for the treatment.

Gurmeet, a relative of the family said that they had been living with them in the same house but not without insecurity. He had also quit a government job to ensure that his kids were not harmed.

Mrs Kaur had appealed to the government for financial help to bear the cost of their treatment. But there has been no change in her situation for the last two decades

(AW- Anil)