Tortured children rescued after 15 years

Authorities have rescued a teenage brother and sister who were tortured, starved and confined to their home in northern India for 15 years by their deranged mother.

Deepak and Tanya Goel were rescued when municipal officials investigated complaints of a foul smell from the home of Dimple Goel in Amritsar, 240 miles west of New Delhi.

When the municipal workers entered the house, they discovered 16 dead puppies, urine and faeces and the two siblings cowering in fear.

Deepak, 17, told the workers their mother, Dimple, regularly beat him, breaking his legs several times, and gave them very little food. He can no longer stand up and walk. His 15-year-old sister was so traumatised she stopped talking several years ago.

The children never went to school or interacted with other children.

They lived only on chapattis, a flat unleavened bread, for 15 years. The 16 puppies were born to the family dog. They died from starvation.

"The mother of both children suffers from schizophrenia," said Dr Brij Lal Goel, director of the Vidyasagar Government Mental Hospital, who examined Dimple Goel. The two are not related.

Deepak said his mother's mental illness began when his father, Tulsi Ram Goel, abandoned her after two years of marriage. Deepak was two years old then. Dimple filed for maintenance and was granted 850 rupees (£30 in 1986) a month. The current value of her alimony is £13.

The meagre amount and her inability to make ends meet made her lose her mental balance, he said.

The mother is yet to be arrested or charged. The children have been sent to a home for orphaned children.