A 72-year-old woman, who had been forced to live in a forest cave by her son and daughter-in-law, has been rescued after two months in Pokharikanda VDC-3, Surkhet.

The VDC office rescued Batu Adhikari of Salkot-4 with the assistance of police on Monday. The victim’s youngest son, Chandra Bahadur, and his wife had left the woman in the forest cave of Pokharikanda VDC two months ago. Chandra said that he had decided to get rid of this mother on the advise of his wife.

“We rescued her after a Birendranagar-based old age home informed us about her ordeal,” said Tilak Adhikari, the VDC secretary of Salkot.

The woman had been surviving on food provided by people in a nearby settlement.

VDC Secretary Adhikari said the mistreatment of Batu at the hands of her son and daughter-in-law began after she was bed-ridden because of illness .

Neighbours said Chandra’s wife would often threaten to leave him whenever they had an argument about his ailing mother.

After Batu was rescued from the forest, authorities have handed her over to her eldest son,  Kul Bahadur.

The incident, meanwhile, has sparked outrage in the village. A group of villagers even shamed Chandra and his wife in public by making them squat and stand while holding each other’s ears for 15 minutes. 

The villagers wanted to teach Chandra and his wife a lesson for what they had done. It was also a way to teach others to respect their elderly parents.