Mentally ill woman from Chennai reunited with kin

Her husband J Ramesh (43) and daughter R Tamanna (6) came to Coimbatore on Thursday morning with another relative and a friend to take her back home. Ramesh told DTNext, his wife Aarthi (36), was mentally ill over the last four years but he also claimed that she was not affected as badly as she is now. 

“We saw here on January 4 last. A girl in the neighbourhood died and Aarthi was seen going to the burial ground with others. On January 5, we lodged a complaint with the Royapettah police. We could not spot her since then. In the last week of January, shopkeepers saw her roaming near the Egmore railway station. By the time we got the information she was not there,” he added. 

Her whereabouts was not known to anyone till March 10, when a group of school students of Indian Public School travelling by school bus saw a badly dressed, mentally ill woman walking on the middle of the Coimbatore to Sathy road (national highway). They informed their French teacher, Rolf Swaminath, who rushed to the spot with Class 12 student Yashvanthraa Mohanraj.

“She was sitting on the middle of the road while vehicles were speeding close to her. We wanted to take her to a safe place as there are plenty of chances for such woman to get abused or misused. But, she did not cooperate and she kept running,” Rolf said. 

The rescuers called three homes, nearby police stations and also 108 ambulance service, who did not come forward to help them. At last, members of an NGO, Eera Nenjam, took her to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital for treatment as she suffered a few bruises. She escaped from the hospital the second day and was found roaming at the Coimbatore railway station. Later, she was taken to a home at Pollachi, but she managed to sneak out, however, she was found after an intensive search. 

“Since she was very aggressive, she was taken to a private hospital in Coimbatore and brought to the Corporation Night Shelter run by Eera Nenjam at R S Puram, in the city, on Tuesday. She spoke Hindi and gave us few mobile numbers, in which one of it was her husband’s. We spoke to him on Wednesday evening,” managing trustee of the NGO, P Mahendiran said. 

While the family rushed to Coimbatore and was elated to see her Aarthi, on Thursday, she was agitated and did not want to go with them. Realising that it is not wise to take her home, with the help of sponsors, the family took her to Bengaluru in a taxi for treatment. “We are waiting to take Aarthi home on her recovery,” Ramesh added.