RAMGARH: Sixty-year-old widow Sridevi of Sikni village under Dulmi block of Ramgarh district learnt how to survive alone in an isolated corner of a forest for the last two decades after she was forced by village panchayat to leave her home for being a leprosy patient. The move is likely to have roots in the ignorance of villagers about the disease that they considered an ill omen and wanted to protect the rest of villageers from contracting it.Sridevi left the village with her newborn son Mukesh Kumar Mahto and started living under a tree. Later, she made a hut on her own with wood and tree leaves about 3 km away from the village. Since then, she has been living in the hut for the last two decades. Mukesh who has turned 20 now returned to their house in the village and also tried to bring back her mother but he was allegedly threatened by the villagers who said he too would be driven away if he tried to bring back his mother.Sridevi and Mukesh's plight got into limelight after Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) district president Rajiv Jaiswal wrote a letter to Ramgarh deputy commissioner about the diktat issued against the widow by the then self-styled gram panchayat in 1998. The gram panchayat had then taken a unanimous decision to ostracise the woman, Jaiswal's letter said.Talking to a team of mediapersons at her hut in the forest, Sridevi said in the local Khortha language, "Kaa kare gaon se hamara bhagaye deb thin (What I can do? The villagers had driven me away)."Mukesh said he was just a newborn when his mother was forced to leave the village after they came to know that his mother was suffering from leprosy. "I have tried to bring back my mother to our house but I was not allowed to do so," he lamented.Jaiswal who raised the issue against the then panchayat's diktat said the government's claims of women empowerment are exposed by the incident. "The life of Sridevi is an ugly depiction of women empowerment in our state," he said. The JVM-P leader also said the administration is yet to take a positive action so far.Mukhiya Manik Lal Mahto admitted that the then village panchayat had forced her to leave for being a leprosy patient in 1998.Commenting on Sridevi's condition, district civil surgeon Marshal Aind. "I have directed doctors and other medical staff to examine the health of the woman and whether she is still suffering from leprosy as the disease is curable today," he said.Ramgarh deputy commissioner Rajeshwari B told reporters that the administration will soon look into the issue. A committee is active in the district to launch an awareness about leprosy and it will look into the issue, she added.

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