<i>Helpless mother keeps hapless boy in chains</i>
Mentally challenged Jewel tied up with a chain in front of their makeshift house at Enayetpur in Tangail town.Photo: STAR
Twenty-one-year-old Jewel is kept in chains most of the daytime when his mother works as domestic help at others' houses. The story dates back 16 years ago when Zahura started keeping five-year-old Jewel chained at home in fear of missing. “I go to work in the morning after feeding my son and return with food in the evening. And this has been my daily routine for the last 16 years,” Jewel's mother Zahura Begum said during this correspondent's recent visit to their makeshift house at Enayetpur in Tangail town. The youth seems hearing and speech impaired and shows unusual behaviour. When this correspondent went to Jewel's house, he saw him chained with the door as his mother Zahura had gone out for work. After returning home in the afternoon, Zahura talked to this correspondent. "Jewel's father left me when Jewel was in the womb. He was born in 1988 and since then I have been working as part-time domestic help at others' houses," Zahura said. “I went to work taking him with me and my employers felt disturbed. But I could not leave him alone at home in fear of missing. When he grew five, I decided to go to work tying him with a mango tree at my rental house at Akur Takur Para in Tangail town," she said. But Jewel fell sick a few days after the process started and he eventually became mentally troubled. "Jewel fell ill as I kept him outside the house most of time -- even in rains and during storms. I am responsible for making my son mad," said a lamenting Zahura. About 10 years ago, she took Jewel to Pabna mental hospital where doctors prescribed some medicines for him and asked them to come again after 40 days, she said, adding, “But I could not go to the hospital anymore due to lack of money." Zahura shifted to Enayetpur in the town along with her son in 2001 and started living at a makeshift house. When Jewel's mother goes out, he tries to draw attention of the passing primary school children but they often tease him, causing him cry in anger, said Probhati Pal, a neighbour. "I still believe that my son will be able to lead a normal life if proper treatment can be arranged," Zahura told this correspondent.
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