Erwadi fire incident

Last updated

2001 Erwadi fire incident
Erwadi Fire1.jpg
Charred remains of the victims and the Moideen Badusha Mental Home at Erwadi
Date6 August 2001 [1]
Location Erwadi, Tamil Nadu, India
Casualties
28 dead

The 2001 Erwadi fire incident was an incident that occurred on 6 August 2001, when 28 inmates of a faith-based mental asylum died in the fire. All these inmates were bound by chains at the Moideen Badusha Mental Home in Erwadi village in Tamil Nadu, India. [2] [3]

A large number of mental homes existed in Erwadi which was famous for the dargah of Quthbus Sultan Syed Ibrahim Shaheed Valiyullah, from Medina, Saudi Arabia who came to India to propagate Islam. Various people believe that holy water from the dargah and oil from the lamp burning there have the power to cure all illnesses, especially mental problems. The treatment also included frequent caning, beatings supposedly to "drive away the evil". During the day, patients were tied to trees with thick ropes. At night, they were tied to their beds with iron chains. [4] The patients awaited a divine command in their dreams to go back home. For the command to come, it was expected to take anything from two months to several years.

As the number of people seeking cure at dargah increased, homes were set up by individuals to reportedly take care of the patients. Most of these homes were set up by people who themselves had come to Erwadi seeking cure for their relatives.

The origins of the fire are unknown, but once it spread, there was little hope of saving most of the 45 inmates, who were chained to their beds in the ramshackle shelter in which they slept, though such shackling was against Indian law. Some inmates whose shackles were not as tight escaped, and five people were hospitalized for severe burns. The bodies of the dead were not identifiable. [5]

Aftermath

All mental homes of this type were closed on 13 August 2001, and more than 500 inmates were placed under the care of the Government of India. [6] As per Supreme Court directions, a commission headed by N. Ramdas was set up to enquire into these deaths. The commission recommended that care of mentally ill people is to be improved, that anybody wishing to set up a mental home be required to obtain a license, and that all inmates be unchained. [7]

In 2007, the owner of the Moideen Badusha Mental Home for the Mentally Challenged, his wife and two relatives were sentenced to seven years imprisonment by a magistrate Court. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psychiatric hospital</span> Hospital specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders

Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals or behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative identity disorder, major depressive disorder and many others. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialize only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients. Others may specialize in the temporary or permanent confinement of patients who need routine assistance, treatment, or a specialized and controlled environment due to a psychiatric disorder. Patients often choose voluntary commitment, but those whom psychiatrists believe to pose significant danger to themselves or others may be subject to involuntary commitment and involuntary treatment. Psychiatric hospitals may also be called psychiatric wards/units when they are a subunit of a regular hospital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lakshmi Sahgal</span> Officer in the Indian National Army(INA) and former Presidential candidate of India

Lakshmi Sahgal was a revolutionary of the Indian independence movement, an officer of the Indian National Army, and the Minister of Women's Affairs in the Azad Hind government. Lakshmi is commonly referred to in India as Captain Lakshmi, a reference to her rank when taken prisoner in Burma during the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dargah</span> Grave shrine

A dargah is a shrine or tomb built over the grave of a revered religious figure, often a Sufi saint or dervish. Sufis often visit the shrine for ziyarat, a term associated with religious visitation and pilgrimages. Dargahs are often associated with Sufi eating and meeting rooms and hostels, called khanqah or hospices. They usually include a mosque, meeting rooms, Islamic religious schools (madrassas), residences for a teacher or caretaker, hospitals, and other buildings for community purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">V. Shanta</span> Indian cancer specialist (1927–2021)

Viswanathan Shanta was an Indian oncologist and the chairperson of Adyar Cancer Institute, Chennai. She is best known for her efforts towards making quality and affordable cancer treatment accessible to all patients in her country. She dedicated herself to the mission of organizing care for cancer patients, study of the disease, research on its prevention and cure, spreading awareness about the disease, and developing specialists and scientists in various subspecialties of oncology. Her work won her several awards, including the Magsaysay Award, Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award given by the Government of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Utica Psychiatric Center</span> Mental health facility

The Utica Psychiatric Center, also known as Utica State Hospital, opened in Utica on January 16, 1843. It was New York's first state-run facility designed to care for the mentally ill, and one of the first such institutions in the United States. It was originally called the New York State Lunatic Asylum at Utica. The Greek Revival structure was designed by Captain William Clarke and its construction was funded by the state and by contributions from Utica residents.

Moral treatment was an approach to mental disorder based on humane psychosocial care or moral discipline that emerged in the 18th century and came to the fore for much of the 19th century, deriving partly from psychiatry or psychology and partly from religious or moral concerns. The movement is particularly associated with reform and development of the asylum system in Western Europe at that time. It fell into decline as a distinct method by the 20th century, however, due to overcrowding and misuse of asylums and the predominance of biomedical methods. The movement is widely seen as influencing certain areas of psychiatric practice up to the present day. The approach has been praised for freeing sufferers from shackles and barbaric physical treatments, instead considering such things as emotions and social interactions, but has also been criticised for blaming or oppressing individuals according to the standards of a particular social class or religion.

M. Krishnan Nair was an Indian oncologist. He was the founding director of the Regional Cancer Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, a director of the S.U.T. Institute of Oncology, and Trivandrum Cancer Center(TCC), part of SUT Royal Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) and a professor at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences & Research in Kochi. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian award of the Padma Shri in 2001 for his contributions in the cancer care field.

Langar Houz is a suburb of Hyderabad, near Golconda, in the Indian state of Telangana. It is a major commercial centre for the city's cantonment area. Langar Houz was once considered to be the gateway to the city and Golkonda Palace.

The Divine Retreat Center is a Retreat centre situated in Muringoor, near Chalakudy, Kerala, India near. It is part of the renewal movement of the Vincentian Congregation of India, who have been conducting retreats in parishes in Kerala since the 1950s. It was inaugurated in 1987.

Koshish - Ek Aashaa is an Indian soap opera that aired on Zee TV from 15 June 2000 till 30 April 2002. It won the award for 'Best Soap Opera' at the RAPA Awards in 2001.

In clinical and abnormal psychology, institutionalization or institutional syndrome refers to deficits or disabilities in social and life skills, which develop after a person has spent a long period living in mental hospitals, prisons or other remote institutions. In other words, individuals in institutions may be deprived of independence and of responsibility, to the point that once they return to "outside life" they are often unable to manage many of its demands; it has also been argued that institutionalized individuals become psychologically more prone to mental health problems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madurai Maqbara</span> Three Sufi shrines in the Kazimar Big Mosque, Madurai, India

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lunatic asylum</span> Place for housing the insane, an aspect of history

The lunatic asylum or insane asylum was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital.

Theriruveli is a village in the Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. It is located near uthrakosamangai and belongs to the Mudukulathur Legislative Constituency. The economy is largely based on agriculture and sheep raising, and remittances from residents who have travelled abroad.

Qutb al-Majeed Fard al-Waheed Imam al-Awliya as-Syed Abdul Qadir Shah al-Hamid Khadir Wali Suhrawardi was a mystic saint, Islamic preacher in Tamil Nadu and a 13th generation descendant of the renowned Sufi saint, Muhiyudin Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani. His resting place is located at Nagore, Tamil Nadu, India.

Operation ASHA(OpASHA) is a non-profit organization (NGO) founded in 2006 to bring tuberculosis (TB) treatment at economically feasible rates to disadvantaged communities. The organization's primary work is to detect and cure TB, as well as to prevent and treat multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in India and Cambodia. Operation ASHA specializes in last-mile connectivity, bridging the gap between government medicine distribution centers and the communities of patients to deliver treatment at the doorsteps of the under-served. In addition to detecting and curing TB, OpASHA's community health workers also educate the community about TB and its symptoms thereby helping to reduce the stigma there is regarding the disease. In addition to TB, Operation ASHA's model and technology has been used in many other diseases such as diabetes, hemophilia and mental health.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti</span> Indian NGO fighting superstition

Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti is an organisation dedicated to fighting superstition in India, particularly in the state of Maharashtra. It was founded by Narendra Dabholkar in 1989. since 2010, the organization has been headed by Avinash Patil.

The 2004 Srirangam marriage hall fire was a fire accident that happened on 23 January 2004 during a Hindu marriage function in Padmapriya Marriage Hall in Srirangam, a town in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. A day after the accident, there were 42 victims, but a total of 64 people, including the groom, were killed overall and 33 others were injured in the fire. The reason for the fire was found out to be a short circuit in the electric wire connecting a video camera, which lit up the temporary thatched roof set up in the first level of the hall.

P. R. Krishna Kumar was an Indian Ayurveda expert and managing director of The Arya Vaidya Pharmacy (Coimbatore) Ltd. He founded the AVP Research Foundation, a non-profit organisation promoting research in the Ayurveda. He was the chancellor of the Avinashilingam University, and the chairman of CARe Keralam, a resource centre involved in efforts to standardise Ayurvedic medicines. The Government of India awarded him the fourth-highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2009, for his contributions to Ayurveda.

References

  1. "Chronology of major fire accidents". Hindustan Times. New Delhi, India. 9 December 2011. Archived from the original on 10 June 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2013.  via HighBeam (subscription required)
  2. Asha Krishnakumar (18 August 2001). "Deliverance in Erwadi". Frontline. Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
  3. "Indian mental homes face closure". BBC News. 8 August 2001. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
  4. Tarun Arora. "Indian Parliament: Responding To International Obligations Regarding – The Rights Of Mentally Retarded People". Legal Service India. Com. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
  5. BARRY BEARAK (8 August 2001). "25 Inmates Die, Tied to Poles, In Fire in India In Mental Home". New York Times. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  6. ASHA KRISHNAKUMAR (August 2001). "Escape from Erwadi". Frontline. Archived from the original on 10 November 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
  7. ASHA KRISHNAKUMAR (9 November 2002). "Probe report on Erwadi". Frontline. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
  8. "Erwadi: Accused get 7 yrs' RI". Express news service. Indian Express. 31 October 2007. Retrieved 24 August 2011.

9°51′00″N78°51′04″E / 9.85000°N 78.85111°E / 9.85000; 78.85111