Family on vow of silence fights a lone battle

Mayurbhanj: They say silence is golden. But for this family of Bartana village under Rasagobindpur block of the district, silence is the way of life. Confined to a house, none nearby remembers when anyone in the family last spoke.

A special report from OTV revealed that a four-member family comprising Subarna Ram, the mother, daughter Milu, son Kanhu and granddaughter has been leading a reclusive life in Subarna's parental house.

Sources said the family has stopped all its activities like agriculture work, sending their child to school and usual sundry works.

Failing after repeated attempts to make the family open up about what ails them, the villagers along with the help of district administration and police today tried to bring the family out of their self-inflicted silence and admitted them to a hospital for check up.

"I once saw Kanhu in a medicine shop asking for medicines. But when I intervened, he remained silent. The whole family remains silent, neither do they talk to any of the villagers," said Umakant Ram, a relative of Subarna.

While some villagers claimed the family has been a victim of witchcraft, others say they are disturbed after the death of Subarna's husband. However some felt financial crisis after losing all their money in chit funds as the reason behind their solitary existence.

Another villager, Chandan Kumar Ram said, "I am sure they are under the influence of witchcraft. May be some black magician has done this and asked them to remain silent."

“As per the villagers, the family has lost all its money in the chit funds following which all are in a mental trauma. But I personally feel Subarna is mentally sick,” said Rasagobindpur BDO, Prasanna Kumar Patra.

Rasagobindpur IIC Ismail Ekka said, “We tried to talk to the family after they were rescued. But nobody answered. They did not open up about what is bothering them. "

With all efforts being made to bring the family back to mainstream, some hope has arisen in the minds of the villagers that words will soon break the shackles of a withdrawn existence of Subarna's family.