Lalita Uike

Click here to view a short film about Lalita.

This is a story of sadness and frustration; an encounter which clearly shows the complex depths of mental illness and the additional obstacles produced by a society that cares little for its most vulnerable.

Lalita Uike came to Women In Need’s attention three years ago. Found on the busy streets of Nagpur, she was naked and psychologically disturbed. Lost amidst a sea of people, cars and chaos, Lalita was aggressive and unapproachable.

Finding relatives and piecing together a woman’s history under such circumstances is difficult enough; a family’s desire to remain untraceable in a highly-populated city usually makes the task time-consuming. Lalita was deaf and mute, which meant getting any tangible information from her very difficult indeed.

Leah and Usha eventually discovered Lalita’s mother, two sisters and two brothers, all of whom lived relatively close to where she was. At the time, her mother lived in poverty with both sons, the eldest a jobless alcoholic, the youngest dying of AIDS. We learned Lalita once worked as a domestic servant, earning money for the family but suffered severe mental trauma after she was gang raped at the age of 18. Her mother gave up hope that her daughter’s mental state would improve and so Lalita remained on the streets.

WIN provided psychological treatment and general medical needs, along with food and clothing for Lalita on the condition her mother should provide shelter for her in the evenings. Anti-psychotic drugs were administered every morning and evening, and within five months Lalita was more approachable and with persuasion, could be washed and clothed.

Such extreme cases require patience; every small step is regarded as a milestone. In Lalita’s case, the first time our approach was met with a smile or the first time she allowed us to bathe her. However, her confidence to leave the area and visit WIN’s day centre eluded us. We hoped this would one day change.

Progress continued for a year, until one day Lalita abruptly refused to take her medication. We wondered what had caused a sudden change of heart. Locals confided in us that some members of Lalita’s family used her as a source of income, to feed their drug and alcohol addictions. Sympathetic passers-by gave Lalita money, which in turn was then taken by the family. Through misguided loyalty, Lalita was influenced not to take her medication, as the improvement in her circumstances made her a less effective source money. To overcome this problem, the drugs had to be administered in her food.

No matter what efforts the charity made to help this vulnerable woman regain normality, new obstacles continued to arise. One day Lalita just disappeared and we learnt a group of men had forcibly removed her, whether to rape or were paid by locals to remove, we can’t be sure; an inability to speak made Lalita particularly vulnerable to such abuse without reprisals. After an exhaustive month-long search, she was discovered 30 miles away from her home.

Whilst not ideal, the charity approached the regional mental hospital to provide Lalita with immediate short-term safety but due to severe overcrowding, it was not possible. Lalita was returned home and to ensure her safety, we asked the locals to keep an eye on her.

Nine months later she vanished again. Lalita’s mother was convinced her daughter was taken to be raped; she had bathed and dressed her in a new sari on the day of her disappearance. Locals denied any knowledge of the abduction, which was surprising considering Lalita could be very vocal when approached by strangers.

August 7th 2008: 15 days after her abduction, Lalita was found battered and undernourished, 20 miles from home. She willingly travelled with Leah and Usha for the very first time, accompanied by her mother. Both visited WIN’s day centre where they enjoyed a hearty meal, drank tea and rested. Lalita’s older sister agreed to temporarily accommodate her traumatised sibling. At the time, the charity was on the brink of opening its residential facilities for the destitute, so a brighter future was just round the corner for Lalita.
At 5.30 pm mother and daughter were driven home.

On August 8th 2008, early morning news came that the body of a 40-year-old female had been found face-down in a pool of muddy water. Coinciding with this news, Lalita’s mother informed the charity her daughter had wandered of in the early hours. Fearing the worst, Leah and Usha contacted police and were called to the Government Medical College mortuary to identify the unknown female. Sadly, it was Lalita.
To make matters worse, her body was handled appallingly by mortuary staff. Women are not usually allowed in such places and the crowed gathered round were men. Removed from cold storage, the body was forcefully stripped naked, causing Lalita’s head to ricochet off the blood-stained stretcher. As the only female onlookers, Leah and Usha protested loudly and later made a strong complaint to the Dean of the hospital, which has since resulted in changes to the handling of female bodies. Tragically, as in life, Lalita’s body was violated in death.
The charity insisted on a postmortem, strongly believing she had been murdered. Whilst Lalita wandered, she never moved far from familiar surroundings. Her body was found miles away from her sister’s home, in a very isolated place.

The next problem Leah and Usha faced was getting the postmortem results. Expected within a fortnight, it took nearly two months of wrangling with police and hospital authorities. When it arrived, the report stated that Lalita had not been physically or sexually abused but had died of natural causes - drowning. The report also claimed the postmortem had taken an hour and a half to perform. Leah and Usha were present before, during and after the postmortem, which took a mere 20 minutes.

The sad end to this tragic story is that justice could not be gained for Lalita; the police strongly advised that without substantial evidence, nothing further could be done.