Her eyes gouged out, 32-year-old has a new vision

Now, with limited vision restored, she is back in the city, working with a home nursing care bureau to help her parents and mentally challenged sister survive in drought-hit Ahmednagar.

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Till the end of August, Maharashtra received only 58 per cent of the normal rainfall while Marathwada region saw only 38 per cent, according to the IMD. Along with the Marathwada region, Ahmednagar and Solapur districts have been worst-hit.

Challi is unable to read or write, but has memorised enough phone numbers so that she can call her poor parents in Ahmednagar.

“I had no choice but to work in Pune and migrate from my village as we had no money. My mother is 60 years old and has to work as a maid at people’s homes. I am the eldest of nine sisters (remaining are married barring two — one mentally challenged and the youngest, who is just 12 years old). The other sisters and their families are also poor and cannot assist us financially. We need to pay at least Rs 50 daily for drinking water,” says Challi, who now earns Rs 10,000 monthly, of which she sends at least Rs 8,000 back home. The amount is still not enough as her 14-year-old son, a school drop-out, has to be looked after by her as well.

At the bureau in Pune, Challi is required to stay with families who need an attendant to look after their ill relatives.

Hailing from the economically backward Pardhi community, Challi never went to school. She got married at the age of 18 and within two years, she had a son.
Following a family dispute, his husband Lonya Kale would often come home drunk and vent his anger on Challi.

“I spent two years with my husband. He used to often drink and hit me. I decided to go back to my parents’ home who stay 22 kilometres away from Rakshaswadi hamlet. I even filed a police complaint. That angered my husband and his family,” Challi recalls.

Revenge in their minds, Challi’s husband and mother-in-law allegedly attacked her. “On February 25, 2003, they pinned me down and pressed my throat after which I fainted. There were five of them. I don’t know how they did it, but they tore my eyelids, bit my ears and gouged my eyes out. My eyeballs were literally hanging. In that state, they dumped me at my uncle’s place,” says Challi.

Following the incident, an FIR was lodged against Challi’s husband and his family.

Meanwhile, Challi’s mother took her to local hospitals in Baramati and Ahmednagar, which refused to treat her. The same night, Challi she brought to Pune’s Ruby Hall clinic.

She is one patient that at least two doctors in Pune are unlikely to forget. With eyes gouged out, eyeballs literally hanging and deeply scarred cornea, the 20-year-old made a ghastly sight. “We were horrified to see her in this condition,” recalls opthalmologist Dr Parikshit Gogate. The optic nerve that goes from the eye to the brain was partially damaged, eyelids completely torn, muscles stretched and there was a pin in her eye. The eyeball had been gouged out, says Gogate.

Since then, Challi has been coming to Pune every year for treatment. According to cosmetic surgeon Dr V Jigjinny who repaired her eyelid, it was an extremely difficult surgery.

“The pictures taken then are a grim reminder about what a harrowing time the girl had to go through,”says Jigjinny.

The cost of treatment over the years worked out to more than Rs 5 lakh, but the eye bank and social workers at Ruby Hall clinic raised money for her as did a gold merchant trader at her native place in Ahmednagar. “We waived off our charges,” the doctors said.

Twelve years later, Challi now has 70 and 40 per cent vision restored in each eye.

Though Challi wants to forget the horror story, she gets emotional when she recalls that despite nine girls in the family, her poor parents did not dump her. “They raised loans and took me to several doctors. I am so grateful for that,” she says.

As for her husband and in-laws, they were acquitted by a local court for lack of evidence.

“That phase of my life is over. My husband has remarried and now I plan to file for divorce soon,” she said.