Barbara Gomes (21) still wears a constant expression of shock, even three weeks post she was rescued along with her mother and sister from their Naigaon home, after seven years of being confined within that space by her father Francis Gomes. She weighs no more than a 12- year-old child, her doctor says.

Barbara is the youngest daughter of Gomes, 60, who was arrested on September 29 on charges of confining his family in the dingy flat fearing that his girls would be raped if they ventured out.

In the Psychiatric Department of the government-run JJ Hospital in Byculla, Barbara, her 27-year-old sister Elizabeth and mother Teresa have begun the painfully slow process of recovery and rehabilitation. The only time Barbara managed a weak smile was when she was asked if she likes sweet and would like to eat.

“Barbara’s condition is worrisome but well under control,” says Dr Yusuf Matcheswala who is treating the family. “She was suffering from acute catatonic schizophrenia when she was brought here. She could have succumbed to her illness in a month or two without medication.”

Elizabeth, whose condition appears a little better than Barbara’s, will also take a long time before recovering enough to be sent to a rehabilitation centre. Evidently fidgety, Elizabeth is on the constant move from her bed to the toilet. “We have to be on constant check to ensure she doesn’t run around the ward,” says an aunt who has been staying with the family in the hospital ever since they were brought in.

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