Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Children found abandoned

Photo: S. Mahinsha

In safe hands: The rescued children with a staff of Childline in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday. -

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The police and activists of Childline rescued two children, a four-year-old girl and a boy aged one, who were found abandoned on the premises of the Ayurveda College Hospital here on Tuesday morning.

The Hospital Superintendent alerted the police on receiving information about the presence of the two children unaccompanied by parents. Head of the missing child search division of Childline Jerome B. Pereira said the siblings were found sobbing. “It was a heart-breaking sight. Many of the onlookers were wiping their eyes,” he said.

The children were wearing soiled clothes and were hungry. On receiving their custody from the police, Childline workers washed the children and gave them fresh clothes and food. A sum of Rs.82 was found in their possession. “The boy kept cuddling up to our staff and calling her mother. Apparently, he was traumatised by the absence of his mother,” Mr. Perieira said.

On being questioned, the girl, who speaks Tamil, revealed their names as Mahalakshmy and Karthik. She said their mother had vanished after bringing them here from their home in Salem, Tamil Nadu. She also disclosed that their parents used to quarrel a lot.

Later in the day, the children were produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate who entrusted their custody to the Child Welfare Centre at Thycaud. Meanwhile, efforts were on to trace the parents of the abandoned children. Childline has alerted its units outside the State. “Photograp hs of the children will be sent to the units in a bid to help the effort,” Mr. Perieira said.

Childline will take up the education of the children if they cannot be handed back to their parents, he added.

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