A WOMAN in her mid-thirties lies on the side of a bustling Indian road, half covered by a blanket, crawling with maggots. Her infected head wound needs urgent attention; you can smell it, but nobody stops to help.

After 20 years of rescuing and supporting abandoned, abused and neglected Indian women there is little change in the apathy society shows its most vulnerable. The poorest women are simply disposed of once “past their best”. These devoted and loyal women are conditioned from a young age to sacrifice their own needs for their brothers, fathers, husbands, children and in-laws. They tolerate abuse, sometimes torture, but will rarely complain for fear of being held accountable in bringing shame on the family.

So, when fortunes change an underprivileged Indian woman from being the giver, the provider, the punchbag, the servant to being unwell and in need of help, she may find herself cast out of the home and left on the streets; a dangerous place for any woman. Here she will most certainly be exposed to rape, disease, extreme weather conditions and perhaps a painful and lonely death.

Why? Because it’s easier to get rid of her than to pay for her medical treatment. Because if she has a mental health problem, it’s better to remove the shame her unusual behaviour brings to the family. Because if she isn’t prepared to put up with abuse anymore she may start creating disharmony within the home; her husband’s home.

Once disposed of, the clear and desperate plight of these women is ignored. I know this through years of experience.

Once, my colleague Usha and I found a woman lying naked in the grounds of one of Nagpur’s Government Medical College hospital. She was in her 60s, lying there motionless and staring upwards. Her body bore the signs of a violent attack; she’d been raped. There she was, naked with her sari thrown to one side. Worse still, she had infected injured feet, teeming with maggots.

The scene of this crime was right outside the head of the hospital's office – the Dean’s office. It was 11am and the grounds were already packed with medical staff and the general public. Just a few yards away was the hospital’s police quarters. No one came to the aid of this poor, sick and traumatised woman. Worse still, after lodging a complaint with the police, doctors refused to admit her. When we threatened to go to the press, she was begrudgingly given a bed, but in the sluice area of male ward.

We learnt her name was Munibai and that her family had forced her to leave home when she developed mental health problems. She was from a faraway place in the south of India and had travelled by train not having a clue where she was going to settle. When railway officials found she didn’t have a ticket, they forced her off at the next station, which was Nagpur. Staying near the railway track, she was injured by a passing train. Railway staff left her in the grounds of the hospital knowing full well she wouldn’t receive the urgent medical care she so desperately needed. This is because Indian government hospital’s do not admit the homeless.

We paid for Munibai’s treatment and her condition improved. Sadly, after one week the hospital's nursing staff removed Munibai, arranging for her to be left where she couldn’t be found. After scouring the city, Munibai was never seen again.

n Women in Need (WIN) rescues women who are silenced and isolated by tradition, intimidation and poverty. On May 20, Leah and Usha are running in Manchester’s Great Run to raise funds for WIN. "Please help us to give hope and dignity to more of these women’s lives by donating," says Leah. You can do this by donating to: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/leah-pattison or see amazing stories of transformation on our website: women-in-need.co.uk"

PANEL

Having first arrived in India on a gap year following university, Leah Pattison was drawn to her vocation after spending time helping people with leprosy learn English at a colony in Dattapur. There she met Usha Patil, who spent ten years at the colony after catching leprosy as a child, and the two decided to help women stigmatised by the disease and cast out from their families to live on the streets. They set up a charity, Women In Need (WIN), and after starting out with a few leprosy patients, now also help women with many other conditions including cancer, mental illness and HIV. Having caught leprosy herself, Leah, now in her 40s, is testament to how easily it can be cured. It is a lack of medication - along with ignorance and neglect - that leaves many with horrific deformities.