The woman in chains. Picture by Lalmohan Pattnaik

Cuttack, March 4: The state human rights commission today issued orders to the government to assess the veracity of alleged plight of a tribal woman, who has been kept shackled for nearly eight years.

The commission issued the order after receiving a petition from a practising lawyer of the high court, Prabir Kumar Das.

Forty-year-old Raimat Soren was allegedly kept tied in chains for the past eight years in a cowshed at Dumadihi under Bahalda police station in Mayurbhanj district because she was mentally ill.

The petition has sought intervention of the commission for “ensuring proper treatment of the victim and her rehabilitation”.

“The state human rights commission chairman, Justice R.K. Patra, taking cognisance of the petition, issued orders to the Mayurbhanj district collector to submit a factual report on the case of Raimat Soren,” petitioner Das said today.

Raimat had reportedly lost her mental balance after the death of Kara Soren, her husband eight years ago. She had since been staying at her parental home with her father Mahendra Majhi.

“The family reportedly took her to Ranchi and Jamshedpur for treatment of her mental illness. But when they could not sustain the treatment they dumped her in the cowshed with chains tied to a leg,” Das said.

“She was neither treated nor allowed to leave the cowshed,” he alleged.