NGO helps elderly woman gone missing 25 years ago unite with family in Puducherry ​

PUDUCHERRY: A septuagenarian woman, who went missing more than 25 years ago from her home in a remote village in Maharashtra, was reunited with her extended family members on Thursday with the help of a non-government organization in Puducherry and students pursuing a postgraduate degree in social work in Pondicherry University. The woman was identified as Jaya Noir wife of Rashid Pinjari from Indra Nagar, Kura village, Nashirbad, Bushawal Jalgaon, Maharashtra.
The NGO Volontariat on receiving a call from Mudaliarpet police station about an old woman with bruises all over her face and limbs lying near the station a month ago dispatched a team to rescue her. The woman was wandering in the streets of the town and used to beg for livelihood. “She had injuries in her face, upper and lower limbs may be because frequent accident falls due to old age.


Jaya Noir’s nephew and her in law flanked by two Ngo staff members

We rescued her and admitted her at our home. One of her upper limbs was fractured. We gave her first aid treatment. We could not gather any information about her as she could understand only Marathi,” said Volontariat director Senthil Coumarane. The woman was not in a ‘good frame of mind’ and was keen to get back to the streets. “It took almost a week for her to get accustomed to the new atmosphere. Once she realized the love and care she received here, she started liking our home,” he said.

A Marathi-speaking student from Pondicherry University studying PG in social work, who joined as an intern at the NGO, started interacting with the woman. The woman told the NGO representatives and social work students that she left home after a family dispute and boarded a train randomly. She travelled to several places before reaching Puducherry. She had lost track of time and must have been in Puducherry for several years begging to eke out a living.


The woman managed to mention the village she hails from and gave the names of her husband, two sons and three daughters and members of her extended family. “We contacted the police station whose jurisdiction covers her village and gave them complete details about her. We requested them to trace her family members. A few days ago, we got a call from her relatives. Her nephew and in-law came to our home and met the woman and the man confirmed that she was his aunt who went missing 25 years ago,” said Coumarane. The NGO also verified all the documents including Aadhaar cards produced by the couple.

However, the NGO was reluctant to hand over her to her nephew Shaikh Latif and her in-law Shahenajbi Shaikh. “The visiting couple and the woman recognized one another. The couple said her relatives thought she was dead after their repeated efforts to trace her failed. They were eager to take her home. But, we insisted that the woman can be handed over to her sons or daughters and not a member of her extended family. They left yesterday promising to come back with her sons,” said Volontariat’s old age home in-charge Marie Christine. Volontariat founder Madeleine de Blic was awarded Padma Shri in 2016.