Help pours in for hapless Delhi sisters

By IANS

New Delhi : Touched by their condition, NGOs have started coming to offer help to two sisters who nearly died of starvation while sitting beside the decomposing body of their dead sibling till police rescued them from their south Delhi home.


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“We are shocked at the condition of the sisters (Dolly and Poonam) and are here to give them whatever help we can. We will help them monetarily, and once they recuperate, and if they are willing, we will also help them get jobs so that they can earn a living,” said Pravesh Jain of the Gharonda Old Age Home, an NGO.

The Bali sisters – Dolly, 43, Poonam, 41, and Neeru, 30, – lived in house no. 331 in south Delhi’s Kalkaji area. The only earning member, Neeru, had lost her job a few months ago. The sisters, who had lost their parents years ago, did not mix in the neighbourhood. They had run out of money and shut themselves in their home. It was only when neighbours were alerted by foul smell emanating from their home that the police were called in Saturday – to find the sisters sitting beside their dead sibling awaiting death.

The two sisters, reed thin and with a dishevelled look, were taken out by the police. Members of the Residents Welfare Association (RWA) of the locality admitted them to a private nursing home.

Recalling with horror how the Bali sisters looked when they were first brought to the hospital, a nursing home official said that they were more hungry for love and care, than for food.

“You should have seen the state they were in when they were brought here. They were simply skin and bones and must have not had a wash for weeks together. Their hair were in knots and it was difficult coming close to them because of the foul smell,” Tripti Sengupta, superintendent of Sukhda Nursing Home where the two sisters are admitted, told IANS.

“But they looked oblivious to all of this,” she said.

“We had to spend a good amount of time washing and scrubbing them clean and making them wear fresh clothes before their treatment began. They are recuperating now and are eating and relishing all that has been given to them, the badam, the juice, everything,” Sengupta added.

The sisters are craving for love and care, said Sengupta.

“This morning a person, probably a neighbour, came by and deposited Rs.5,000 for the sisters. Money is of course an issue but more than that it is the care and attention of a family and loved ones that they need,” she said.

The National Commission for Women (NCW) has also promised to help the surviving sisters in all possible way.

“I will visit the sisters in the hospital Wednesday morning and find out what the situation is like. I read the reports today and we will try to provide help to them to rehabilitate them,” NCW member Malini Bhattacharaya told IANS.

She said that she would discuss the matter with NCW chairperson Girija Vyas and seek a police report on the issue.

Expressing shock at the incident, she said: “It’s unfortunate that a woman in the capital has met the fate of starvation death.

“While NCW would like to rehabilitate the two sisters as a short-term measure, we would also try to work out a long-term strategy to ensure that women do not meet such fate.”

Bhattacharya also said that they would ensure that the relatives of the sisters do their bit until things improve.

“They are under mental trauma. More than physical well being, they need to be loved and cared for. And it’s not that they are alone in this city. They have relatives staying close by, but they have to take responsibility,” she added.

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