The Hindu : National : "I didn't have the heart to leave him behind"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 07, 2005

National

National

"I didn't have the heart to leave him behind"

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, FEB. 6. Savitri Minj, the maid who took 18-month-old Arpit from Srinivaspuri in South Delhi last Monday, said today that she took him along with her while fleeing because she did not have the heart to leave him alone in the house.

Police said Savitri was not happy at the way things were going for her in the Capital and wanted to return to her village.

On Monday, when Arpit's parents and his elder brother were away, Savitri planned to flee. As she was about to leave, Arpit started crying. She did not have the heart to leave the boy behind as she had developed a liking for him, she told the police.

Savitri took Arpit along with her to the Old Delhi railway station and then to the New Delhi railway station area where she got enrolled in the Labour Colony.

She worked there for two days and fed Arpit.

However, she had to flee again when the police came there in search of her. She hid Arpit under her shawl, boarded the Neelanchal Express to Bhubaneswar, from where she took a bus to Rourkela.

She then went to Sundergarh where she was caught.

The police said Savitri took good care of the boy. "It suggests that she had no plans to cause him any harm," said a police officer, yet she had committed a crime by abducting the boy.

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