Both man and child were mentally challenged, and allegedly subjected to ill-treatment by her grandparents; child now in custody of social workers, who are in search of a home for her
Fed up of the relentless ill-treatment he and his mentally challenged three-and-a-half year old daughter were allegedly subjected to at the hands of his aged parents, a mentally unstable man flung his tot from the second floor of their home in Dombivli (East). And then, to ensure that neither would face another day of suffering, he went and sat on the railway tracks with her bleeding, barely living body, waiting for the approaching train to put an end to their miserable lives.u00a0Fortunately for the child, a neighbour spotted the two and rescued them in the nick of time, even as the train approached father and child.
Hope floats: The toddler is now in the custody of social worker Dilip Bhanushali and his wife, who are in search of a suitable new home for her, as her family has given her up for adoption. Pic/Datta Kumbhar
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According to the complaint filed with the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), the victim Asha (name changed) lived with her father Nitin Gohil and grandparents Nandkishore and Prafulla, ever since her mother abandoned them.u00a0“In the absence of her mother, her grandparents had to take care of the child. Gohil’s mental problems prevented him from finding lucrative employment – he works as a sweeper in a local shop,” revealed a neighbour.u00a0
1. Tossed by fate: The tot’s mentally challenged father throws her down from their residence
2. When she survives the fall, he picks up his injured and bleeding daughter and waits on the railway tracks for the approaching train to run them over;u00a0
3. The two are rescued in the nick of time by a neighbour who spots them
Asha and her father had become a burden for her grandparents who had no source of income either. Their poverty led to frequent altercations at home. According to sources, Nandkishore and Prafulla would mentally torture Gohil and his daughter.
They were not offered food for days at a time. Fed up with the torment, Gohil, who stays on the first floor of Sadguru Seva Sadan on Rajaji Path, took her up to the second floor, and dropped her to the ground, in a fit of anger last month. Seeing that his daughter was bleeding and injured but still alive, Gohil rushed down, picked her up, and took her to the railway tracks nearby, where he sat with her, waiting for the train to run them over.
“Luckily, one of the neighbours spotted them on the tracks when the train was about 200 metres away. He rescued both of them. A resident of Sadguru Seva Sadan informed a social worker about the incident, following which the girl was rescued from the home,” added another neighbor.
On March 28, Mulund based social workers Dilip and Neeta Bhanushali took the child into their custody, after obtaining an affidavit from the court, signed by the victim’s grandparents and parents. The document says that the family members are giving the child away for adoption.
“The girl is still very weak, as she had not been fed properly. We are trying to find an appropriate home for her,” said Dilip Bhanushali. CWC senior member Sumitra Astekar said, “The family had approached us some time ago, and recently we had come to know that the girl was being cared for by an NGO in Mulund. I have asked the Childline authorities to make enquiries and submit a report.” u00a0
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