‘Family Sent Me To Deaddiction Unit To Usurp Property’

Gurdeep Singh Dua, a 64-year-old advocate from Delhi, alleges that his family conspired to forcefully confine him in a ‘de-addiction’ centre for 21 months. There, he was left out to shiver in the cold. Treated as slave, he was made to scrub floors and force-fed medicines that deteriorated his health. From a successful lawyer, Dua has been reduced to frail man seeking justice 

Six years ago, my daughter got married. All these years I had found it difficult to accept their relationship. But in the month of February in 2016, there was a thaw. I had finally accepted their relationship. ‘Would you like to have a drink with me?’ my son in-law asked. I agreed. I toasted to the welcome him as the newest addition to our family. I was happy… ecstatic even, but little did I know that it was all going to end soon.

I stepped out into the garden with my drink and a couple of men pounced on me. They held me tight and threw me into a van like dog. A few kilometers away, hell awaited me. I found myself in a ‘de-addiction’ centre. And here’s the catch: I never had an alcohol addiction problem. But I guess my son-in-law decided that putting me there was the best way to pressure me into transferring my property to him. However, I did not buckle under pressure and have still managed to hold on to my property.

At the de-addiction centre, while, most of the other inmates were petty criminals, brought in by the police, there were some like me, who were ostracized by their family. My family had apparently paid lakhs of Rupees to keep me there – to be treated like a slave, along with the rest of the inmates. We were made to sweep and mop the floor. Whoever dared to disobey was punished.

They would mercilessly beat inmates and make them stand for hours. This was their idea of detox. Almost every night, the staff members would come drunk. They were even addicted to drugs. The owner of the centre, would ask the inmates to give him body massages by turns, during winters. But there was no one to check. I was made to scrub floors and was left out in the cold without any blanket.

The quality of the food was very bad as well. I suffered from erratic blood pressure and the medicines that I was being force-fed further deteriorated my health. How can they treat a senior citizen like this?

The medicines kept me dizzy and tired. They tried their best to make me physically and medically unfit. All this while nobody from home visited me. My brother had tried to bring me home-cooked food once, but he was turned away. I stayed at the facility for 21 months and was released in April 2018, and all these months, my wife was in Canada, staying with my son.

I wondered if my wife had also plotted along with my son-in-law to imprison me at the de-addiction centre. I had always suspected that my son in-law was eyeing my residential property. After we had accepted their marriage, my son in-law had begun to interfere in our financial and property-related decisions. My wife seemed to agree with him most of the time. On several occasions, I tried telling her that we should not let him interfere in our lives, but she could not care less.

In fact, before the de-addiction centre episode, I had told my wife that I would be filing a case against my son in-law, who wanted to oust me from my home. This had infuriated her. I am a free man now –free but frail. I still have my property intact. But protecting it has become my mission. I have filed a police complaint against my son-in-law and the owner of the detox centre. I have a long tedious legal battle. I have done very well in my life. In my prime, I enjoyed various political posts. But the 21 months at the centre have crushed my spirit. I am just a sick man trying hard to recover and seek justice.