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A team of officials and human rights activists on Wednesday rescued a youth locked inside a room of his house from the past 13 years, allegedly by his family, at Hura village in Nanjangud taluk of the district.

The youth, now aged 23 years, was restrained at the age of 10 by his mother on the advise of a ‘devara guddappa’ (god’s worshipper in old Mysuru region), believing that ‘he is a godman’. The youth, identified as Kumaraswamy, had lost his father at the age of three. Since then, he was living with his mother Nanjamma and younger sister Channajamma. The guddappa allegedly told Nanjamma about her son’s ‘divinely qualities’. Since then, Kumaraswamy was restricted to his room and was also disrobed, Tahsildar H Ramappa told Deccan Herald.

Interestingly, the youth, in the later stage,  started behaving in an abnormal manner at the behest of guddappa. Barring his sister, who was taking care of his daily needs, nobody was allowed to meet him.

Prasanna, an activist who visited the house, said the dishevelled youth with unkempt beard, was in the decrepit room, emanating tepid smell, as he was forced to relieve in the same place and rarely took bath. “We had a torrid time making him wear clothes before bringing him out of the house. The youth was also struggling to speak, as he had stopped talking to others, including family members, since a decade,” Prasanna added.

The tahsildar, who counselled the youth, had to face some tough moments as his mother refused to disagree with her son’s godly nature. When the tahsildar wanted to take him to the doctor, his mother sought time, to seek the ‘permission’ of god. Eventually, on the reference of a local doctor, the youth was taken to a psychiatrist at KR Hospital in Mysuru.

Dr  Rajgopal told Deccan Herald that the condition can be assessed only after a day, after monitoring his present status. Neighbours unaware.

The neighbours, who claim to be unaware of Kumaraswamy’s ordeal, told the officials, “Whenever we went near the house, the mother would ask us to stay away, saying that her house is a holy place.”

Family background
The only source of income for the family was widow pension of Nanjamma. While her younger daughter had studied till class eight and discontinued, Kumaraswamy never went to school. Strangely, there is no mention of Kumaraswamy in the ration card, said Prasanna.