KARUNA SHINSHO, CNN ANCHOR: Authorities in southern India are seeking to shut down all private homes for the mentally ill in the area. It comes after fire swept through one such facility on Monday, killing 26 people. All those who died were chained to their beds. As Suhasini Haider reports, these institutions are being condemned for violating human rights in pursuit of large profits.</s>SUHASINI HAIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This fire at this home for the mentally ill in southern India showed the shocking conditions of its inhabitants. Twenty-six people burned to death because they had been chained to their beds to prevent them from running away from the home.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I managed to escape only because the chains around my leg were a little loose.</s>HAIDER: Their deaths have forced authorities to take action against 15 similar asylums in the same area of Ramanathapuram, in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The asylums are clustered around a holy shrine that many believe could miraculously cure psychiatric ailments. The state of Tamil Nadu says it has now decided to close them down. State authorities say that these privately run homes violated human rights norms in order to run profitably.</s>ANWAR RAJA, TAMIL NADU LABOUR MINISTER (through translator): Since they are being run on a commercial basis, even the patients who are cured are not released, because it will cut into their profits.</s>HAIDER: And profits at these shelters, basic thatch roof hutments without electricity or running water were high. According to the government, they would charge patients anything up to $65 a day. The national human rights commission says it's taking serious note of the fact that these homes were allowed to run, and to treat patients in this inhuman manner. But for those whose chains prevented them from escaping the deadly fire on Monday, these measures have come too late. Suhasini Haider, CNN, New Delhi.
Authorities in Southern India to Close Private Homes for Mentally Ill, After Fire Kills 26 Chained to Beds