Cuttack: Controversy surrounding the alleged confinement of a woman in the SCB hospital mental ward for days has taken a turn with authorities claiming the allegations "totally false" before the State Human Rights Commission.

The case involved Shantilata Parida, 25, of Taratua in Iswarpur police limits of Balasore district.

Records reveal she turned up at the psychiatric outpatient department alone on November 24 and later admitted as an indoor patient.

The commission took cognisance of a complaint that alleged that Shantilata was forcibly admitted by police in the mental ward despite not being a psychiatric patient.

The complaint filed on December 6 on the basis of a report published in a vernacular daily had claimed that Shantilata was suffering from headache and came to the hospital to visit doctors of the neurology department.

The commission on that day asked the hospital superintendent "to inquire into the matter and submit a report within four weeks".

In his report, director-cum-medical superintendent, Mental Health Institute, (SCB Medical College and Hospital) Nilamadhav Rath claimed that Shantilata was "a psychiatric patient suffering from manic excitement and affective psychosis".

"The allegation that Shantilata was confined, tortured and kept in hunger is example of unfounded, exaggerative and negative news item totally false and sensationalised against an unit that serves homeless and helpless mental patients in distress," Rath said in his report.