They used hot rods on me, says Hyderabad girl tortured by parents

Hyderabad: On her first day in the special room allotted to her in Global Hospitals, 19-year-old Prathyusha underwent a hair cut and also changed into a new purple and yellow dress.

She looked like any other teenager but for the marks on her hands, face and neck reminding of the brutality she had been through.

She says, “I never thought that I would one day sit with people who would care for me. I had come to terms with my destiny and accepted that branding with hot irons and eating spoilt food was the only thing that I could hope from life.”

Read: Family disfigured 19-year-old so that she couldn’t marry

She had tried to run away from home twice in the last year but failed. This was because in the residential colony in Fatullaguda where they stayed, her parents had spread the word that she was insane and her screams and yells must not be taken seriously.

“I ran away from home when my stepmother was sleeping. But someone alerted her and I was caught within the colony premises,” she says.

Read: Hyderabad girl tortured: Hyderabad police look out for absconding father

The two failed attempts took away whatever hopes she had to free herself from the clutches of her father Ramesh and stepmother Chamundeswari alias Shyamala.

She had completed her intermediate studies and was pursuing a vocational multipurpose health worker’s course in 2010 when her mother Sarala passed away. Six months into the course, she was taken away by her mother’s brother.

Read: Stress damaged Pratyusha’s health

She says, “After my parents separated, we were staying in Padmarao Nagar. My uncle stays in Musheerabad and my grandmother is in Varisguda. I went to stay with my uncle but within a few days was shifted to an orphanage. They didn’t leave any contact numbers with the orphanage.”

She says no relatives knew of her presence in the orphanage till her father came asking in 2014. She says, “I didn’t want to go with my father. I was very uncomfortable and full of doubt. He came three times and urged me to stay with him but I refused. The fourth time, he convinced that he would take care of me and promised no harm. Life in the orphanage was tough and I thought I would finally be able to pursue my studies, a hope that I still nurture.”

Read: Prathyusha suffers from breathlessness

For the first two months, there were no problems but after that food was reduced to two times in three days and later they started beating me.

Lady police constable posted in girl’s room

A lady police constable has been posted in her room as Balala Hakula Sangham’s Mr Achyut Rao complained of threats to her life. Mr Rao said, “Now that she is talking about the torture that she underwent, it is important to protect her. Also, there are many relatives of patients and sympathizers who are coming to see her. We can’t allow that.”