Mentally ill, beggars mistaken, attacked

Visakhapatanam: The city is fast becoming a place for the mentally deranged as the mental hospital is located near Chinna Waltair. According to a survey conducted by a non-profit organisation in the city on mentally ill, over 300 such people, who are homeless and found at various asylums, roaming on footpaths and bus-stops are from adjacent states and also from north India.

Of late, many serial attacks took place in and around the city against north India people suspecting them to be Parthiv gang, who were kidnapping children, but actually they are beggars and mentally ill persons.

It is learnt that people with a mob mentality were attacking such type of persons due to bi-lingual miscommunication. The people, who are mentally ill, were finally becoming the victims and in some cases, they are losing their lives. Recently, three young people from One Town area were held for murdering a beggar who hailed from Bihar.

Railway station, Gnanapuram, Akkayapalem, Dabagardens, Chinna Waltair, Pedda Waltair, One Town, KGH, RK Beach and other areas in the city witness the presence of mentally ill people.

Most of the family members in north India were reportedly sending their mentally-ill kin to Visakhapatnam by train in the hope that they would be taken up by non-profit organisations in the city, said ticket collector M Rajeev Shukla at Visakhapatnam Railway Station.

Speaking to The Hans India here on Wednesday, Dr Radha Rani superintendent of Mental Hospital at Chinna Waltair said that traffic police in the city should identify such persons and produce them before a magistrate and inform either their family or relatives about it.

If the kith and kin were not found in such cases, they can be directly referred to the government mental hospital legally, she added. She also said that some of the non-profit organisations in the city were providing food to them. Instead of providing food, these members of non-profit organisations should admit such patients on the streets in a mental hospital and give them treatment.

One of the senior police personnel said that the police department already initiated the SHO and all traffic police constables to create awareness among the public through social media.

The Commissioner of Police also warned the public not to take the law into their hands and punish the innocent people. Instead, they should approach the nearby police station or dial the Control Room. He also urged the public not to circulate the photographs on the social media.

Police were also identifying the homeless people and shifting them to NGOs and government homes, he added. He said that people should not panic and instead cooperate with police.