The Hindu : Karnataka News : Abandoned girl finds a home

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Oct 19, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Abandoned girl finds a home

Shama Sunder

Pooja was found under a bush after being thrown out of a train

Pooja

HASSAN: Pooja (5), who was allegedly thrown into the Hemavathi from a train in Holenarsipur on October 12 and who was rescued by a farm worker Prakash, was admitted to Bala Mandir in Hassan on Wednesday.

It is said that the girl was thrown out of the Mysore-Arsikere train.

Pooja was found under a bush by Prakash, who was passing by the railway overbridge and heard the cries of a girl. He took her to his village, Kasuvinakote, 2.5 km away, where he and his wife nursed the girl before taking her to a hospital in Holenarsipur.

Pooja said her father’s name is Mani and mother’s Lalitha. She has a brother Sridhar, she added. Their house was near the Bommanahalli Railway Station in Bangalore. “If my mother comes to fetch me, I will go,” she said. Within a few hours of reaching the Bala Mandir, where there are 10 girls, she got accustomed easily to the new surroundings. The other children are friendly with her. She is in a home away from home.

Of late, cases of abandoned baby girls have become common with six such incidents being reported in Hassan district in the last one year.

Social worker Jagadish told The Hindu that society should change its views about baby girl. The dowry menace should be nipped in the bud. He said the Union Government is providing free education and sanctioning scholarships to girls up to pre-university. The State should also extend this facility. He wanted a detailed enquiry into the causes for Pooja’s parents abandoning her. Why did Raju, her maternal uncle, throw her from a running train? Is her mother aware of this? he asked.

A journalist from Holenarsipur Guru Prasad got the girl medical attention.

Superintendent of Police Panduranga Rane said the Holenarsipur police have registered a case under Section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code and are investigating. They have sent messages to police stations in Bangalore.

Mr. Rane said that though newspapers and the electronic media had reported the story, nobody had contacted the police nor a missing complaint had been lodged in any police station in Bangalore.

Hassan District Karnataka Rakshana Vedike president Satish said that such incidents had become common in Hassan. Whether her parents abandoned the child because it was a girl? All these should be enquired into, he said and added that the rakshana vedike was ready to rehabilitate the girl.

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