By IANS,
New Delhi: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Tuesday asked the Uttar Pradesh government to compensate the family of a mentally ill patient who died after being assaulted in a mental home at Bareilly five years back.
Rajendra Kumar was mentally ill and was undergoing private treatment under Dr Rakesh Saxena. After some time, however, his brother placed him in a mental hospital since he was unable to bear the costs.
“Mahendra Kumar, the victim’s brother, in his complaint, alleged that this step annoyed Saxena and therefore he, along with other hospital employees, started torturing Rajendra, who eventually died Oct 6, 2004. Injury marks were seen on his forehead, eyes and near the ears,” an NHRC official said.
The autopsy report said that the cause of death was shock and haemorrhage due to rupture of the small intestine which could be possibly due to being hit by a blunt object or by fist blows.
“The magistrate in his inquiry concluded that Rajendra was beaten up severely by the hospital attendant and two other mental patients as a result of which he suffered rupture of small intestine. He also held responsible the medical officer and staff of the mental hospital for negligence in preventing the incident,” the official added.
The allegations against Saxena were not substantiated.
The commission has asked the Uttar Pradesh chief secretary to take action against the hospital attendant and asked the government to pay a sum of Rs.200,000 to Rajendra’s kin. It has also asked for the proof of payment within six weeks after the receipt of the order.