DHADING: Shila Nepali, 24, a resident of Nalang VDC, is imprisoned in a cage for the past 18 years. Nepali, who was born with mental and physical disabilities in 1985, was confined to a cage, after his family discovered it at the age of six.

Confined to the cage, Nepali has lost touch with the outside world. “Though we have deep affection for our son, we confined him out of fear that he might get hurt,” mother Sukumaya Nepali said.

The Dalit family which lives in abject poverty does not have money to fund their son's treatment. “Our son would get a new lease of life, if any benevolent soul financed his treatment. We would have been grateful to them,” she said. Shila's father works as a labourer in India.