Gurugram: Munmun Majhi, 33, locked herself and her son at their Gurugram home for three years because she was terrified that the 10-year-old would "die of Covid as soon if he stepped out", a police officer said after the two were rescued yesterday and hospitalised for a thorough check-up.
The bizarre instance of Covid-induced paranoia came to light a week ago when the woman's husband Sujan Majhi approached the police. Mr Majhi, an engineer with a private company, told police that his wife had locked herself and her son at home for three years now.
He told them that he had stepped out to work after the lockdown restrictions ended, and was not allowed back in.
Since then, Mr Majhi had been paying the rent, clearing bills, and buying groceries and leaving them outside the main door. He initially stayed at friends' and relatives' homes, hoping this would end soon. But when his wife did not budge, he rented another accommodation.
The account was so shocking that the police did not believe it initially. When they called Ms Majhi, she said she and her son were "absolutely fit". "We then made a video call, and when I saw the child, I became emotional. His hair had grown to his shoulders," the officer said.
The child, who was seven when the pandemic struck, is about 10 now. For three years, he had not seen anybody other than his mother. He drew and wrote on walls.
"His mother was in panic over Covid. She had no intent of stepping out. She kept saying, 'I will not let my son step out because he will die immediately'," the officer said.
"I kept talking to her, kept asking her if she needs any help. I think she started trusting me. So when I called her to the police station today, she came, but the child was not with her. We finally managed to convince her. She was taken to a hospital, and we then went to the flat to rescue the child," the officer told mediapersons.
When the police and child welfare teams entered the flat, they were in for a shock. For three years, garbage had not been thrown out, and the apartment was a sea of filth. Piles of clothes, hair, empty grocery packets were on the floor and a thick layer of dirt had settled on all appliances.
In one of the dirty bedrooms, the 10-year-old boy, his hair now cropped, had a blank look as he saw several people, led by his father, enter the house. He has now been hospitalised.
"There was so much garbage inside that if a few more days had passed, anything untoward could have happened," assistant sub-inspector Praveen Kumar told news agency PTI.
"The woman has psychological issues. Both of them have been referred to PGI, Rohtak. They have been admitted to the psychiatric ward for treatment," said Dr Virender Yadav, Gurgaon Civil Surgeon.
Mr Majhi, overjoyed to have his family back, thanked the police for their help. "Now they are being treated. I hope my life will be back on track soon," he told news agency ANI.