'We will counsel the mother and provide shelter to girl'

The seven-year-old school dropout is shackled all day at the GTB Nagar pavement her family calls home. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

Thanks to Good Samaritans, GTB Nagar's seven-year-old resident won't have to spend her life shackled to her bed. Following mid-day's front-page report on the child who has been chained to a cot for her safety by her mother, the city Child Welfare Committee (CWC) has stepped in to rehabilitate the girl. Apart from them, the Shree Gurusingh Sabha in Dadar has also come forward to help, offering to take care of her educational expenses till her graduation.

The seven-year-old dropped out of school last year, and spends all day and night chained to her bed in her family's pavement dwelling at GTB Nagar in Sion because her mother Sapna Kaur is scared of her safety following the kidnapping, rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in Mahim. mid-day had reported about the family's plight in a front-page report titled, 'Chained' on February 22.

CWC called the seven-year-old's current living condition 'inhuman'. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

After the report hit the stands, help began pouring in for the family. Starting with CWC, who have taken suo-motu cognisance of the matter. They want to rehabilitate the child and will be speaking to her mother on Monday. Speaking to mid-day, Vijay Doifode, city chairperson of CWC said, "This is utterly inhuman, regardless of the reason or motive behind it. One cannot chain a girl like this, even if it is for her safety. We can understand the plight of the family and the mother, too, and we will help them."

CWC will also to summon policemen from the Antop Hill police station to ask what they've done to rehabilitate the girl, who is living in inhuman conditions. A CWC member said, "We will be summoning Antop Hill Police station as soon as possible and ask them to bring the child in front of CWC. If the family allows the child to be rehabilitated due to their financial condition, we can surely send her to a children's home."

Underlining other options available for the child, the member said, "If the family isn't ready to send her to a children's home, another way of monitoring the progress of the child, is by appointing a counselling officer who can visit the child at regular intervals and maintain records of her progress. After the girl is produced in front of the CWC bench, the members will take the final call on it." Apart from CWC, the Shree Gurusingh Sabha, a Gurudwara in Dadar has also come forward to help.

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