Two families have claimed the custody of Daya Ram, who was repatriated along with other Indian prisoners from Pakistan, on September 12. Immediately after repatriation from Pakistan, Daya Ram was admitted in the Doctor Vidya Sagar Mental Hospital, Amritsar [Images] when the District Administration found that no-one from his family came forward to stake claim.

A critical situation developed on Saturday, when two families, one from Sonepat in Haryana and another from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pardesh, reached the hospital, claiming that Daya Ram, who has been declared a schizophrenic, belonged to them

Dr B L Goel, director of the hospital, said Sub-divisional Magistrate and Deputy Superintendent of Police of Gorakhpur came to the hospital after procuring orders from the Deputy Commissioner and Chief Judicial Magistrate, Amritsar, to get custody of Daya Ram.

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Dr Goel said, as per the rules of the mental hospital, a patient should be able to recognise his guardians or his family members who have come forward. But the Uttar Pardesh government officials came without his family members.

The members of the family, which came from Haryana, said that Daya Ram was in the Indian Army and during the 1965 war between India and Pakistan, had gone missing but later, he was declared killed by the Pakistani army.

After seeing the photographs of Daya Ram in dailies, the family reached the hospital, seeking his custody. Dr Goel said Daya Ram, being schizophrenic, is unable to recognise anyone who is claiming to be from his family.

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