When will the ordeal end for Daya Ram?

Daya Ram, who landed in a mental hospital in Amritsar soon after he was repatriated from Pakistan recently, is still waiting when his ordeal will end.

Two families, one from Sonipat in Haryana and the other from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, which claimed he was very much a part of them, have now shown reluctance to own him.

Two families claim released prisoner

The family from Sonepat has even withdrawn its claim giving in writing that Daya Ram, undergoing treatment in Vidya Sagar Mental Hospital, was not associated with it, Hospital sources said.

Daya Ram, a middle-aged man, was repatriated to India from Pakistan on September 12 along with 148 Indian prisoners.

He was admitted to the hospital when the district administration found that no one came to own him.

Later, 2 families landed at the hospital claiming that Daya Ram was very much a part of them. A woman from the Sonipat family even claimed to be Daya Ram's wife. Surprisingly the family later withdrew claim that he was associated with them.

Doctors attending on Daya Ram said Goarkhpur sub-divisional magistrate and district superintendent of police came to the hospital on Monday after procuring an order from the Amritsar administration for his custody.

But the order laid conditions that rules of the hospital had to be followed before Daya Ram was handed over to them. The Hospital Medical Board opined that Daya Ram was still not fit to be discharged and his life would be in danger if he was released, Dr B L Goel said.

Medical examination of Daya Ram showed he still could not remember his past, even his family members and relatives, he said.

"I firmly declined to discharge Daya Ram from the hospital," he said.