Dhankuta, July 14

An 18-year-old Rudra Bahadur Rai of Sipten, Dhankuta Municipality–3, has been iving in a cage for the past 10 years.

Rudra, the second child of Man Bahadur Rai and Ganga Maya Rai, was born physically challenged and mentally retarded. As both of his parents leave for work early in the morning, he is compelled to stay in a cage made with zinc sheets.

“Why can’t leave him alone while we go for work to eke out a living. We leave him in the cage in the morning and return home only in the evening. There is no one to keep him company. He has been much slower after a pig pricked up his right ear a few years back,” rued his father Man Bahadur.

The Rai family’s house was damaged by the April 2015 earthquake. Grains produced in their farmland is only enough to feed the family for some three months.

“We could not afford for his treatment as we have always been struggling to make ends

meet. Due to poverty, our daughter Ram Devi, who is now 24, has gone to Kathmandu to seek foreign employment in a Gulf country,” said Man Bahadur.