Mother-daughter duo rescued in Dabri suffered from hallucinations

After 42-year-old Kalavati's husband died in a road accident, she cut off all social connections by confining herself to her house in South West Delhi's Dabri area. Also, her 20-year-old daughter, Deepa following her mother's footsteps joined her in the self-imposed exile.

The story started in the year 2013 when the mother daughter duo wilfully got detached from the outside world. Slowly their minds started playing tricks leading to hallucinations.

Soon, the outside world started to intimidate them as both of them would freak out with loud noises. Also, they were unable to withstand bright light.

"The two women would stay inside a single room. Their family made sure that the room would have dim lighting as bright lights would scare them. They would also make sure that nobody would talk in loud voices as they would get intimidated," said Rishabh, a neighbour.

Kalavati's son, Vinod, aged 18, works at a local temple in Janakpuri. He applied all possible methods, to bring back normalcy in his mother's and sister's life. But the women refused to step outside and continued to survive wilfully in their in their dim room.

"The family did not have money for treatment. Vinod had told us that he tried to get the women outside the house. He also conducted various pooja's but that did not work, and eventually a year ago the woman started to hallucinate," said a senior police official.

The woman's family would collect money and send her for treatment. But efforts would turn futile as she refused to speak to the doctor and revealed none of her symptoms. Health conditions coupled with their mental condition and both lost around 25 kilograms.

Finally, the cops were called who tried to counsel the women. Following the duo's refusal to step out, a counsellor was roped in who finally managed to break their four-year exile.

Later, they were shifted to IHBAS (Institute of Human Behavior and Allied Sciences) for treatment.

The conclusion of the four-year-long has been a huge relief for the family. Now, that they took the hardest step, their long road to treatment remains.

"The women were severely malnourished also they have gone through a traumatic experience stretching for years and will have to undergo intense counselling sessions," the official added.