46-year-old, who is mentally unstable and was detained for throwing stones at people near Santacruz station, could not even recall her name or where she hailed from; when she finally gave them the name of a town in Telangana, the cops sent a team that took two days to track down her family
A 46-year-old mentally unstable woman from Telangana, who had been separated from her family after missing a train at a station in Madhya Pradesh, was reunited with them yesterday, thanks to the proactive efforts of the Vakola police.
Shamina Begum Baig (second from right) with PSI Santosh Dange, her son and daughter-in-law. Her son was given her custody yesterday. Pic/Satyajit Desai
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According to Sub-Inspector Santosh Dange of the Vakola police station, they received a call from the Prabhadevi area near Santacruz railway station on May 26, complaining that a woman was causing nuisance. The caller complained that she was throwing stones at people and was not fully clothed.
The cops brought her to Vakola police station and found that she was mentally unstable. “We sent her to the Cooper hospital, made case papers under Section 25 of the Mental Health Act and submitted them to the Bandra court. A female constable, Pramila Gavit, stayed with the woman day and night and, along with doctors, tried to get her to tell us where she hailed from.
Two days after she was taken to the hospital, she said she was from Rickshaw Colony, Vikarabad, Telangana and her name was Shamina Begum Baig,” said Dange. “We were unsure whether to believe her, but a quick web search told us that the place exists. We tried calling the local police there, but no one answered the phone,” he added.
The extra mile
Instead of giving up, the Vakola police decided to send a team to Vikarabad even though they had incomplete information. A team of two constables was sent to the town by train. “It was very difficult to trace the family. The area consists mostly of forests and it took us two days to find her family.
We discovered that she is an employee of a municipal corporation in Telangana and her husband, Attahulla, is a clerk with the Indian Railways. We brought her elder son with us to Mumbai on June 7,” said Sagar Kunchikurve, one of the constables.
‘Grateful’
Speaking to mid-day, Shamina’s son, Asadulla said, “On May 16, my mother, father and two sisters went to the Ajmer Sharif Dargah. They took a return train on May 22. When the train halted at the Khandwa railway station in Madhya Pradesh, my mother got down to buy bananas.
When the train started, she fell and missed it. My father got down at the next station and went to Khandwa, but she was missing. We filed a missing complaint and looked for her ourselves as well, but could not find her.” “We are grateful to the Vakola police for reuniting her with us.
Without their efforts, I would have never found my mother. What is still a mystery, however, is how she landed up in Mumbai,” he added. Yesterday, the Vakola police got an order from the Bandra court and Shamina’s custody was given to her son. PSI Dange said, “We are very happy and satisfied with the outcome of our efforts.”
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