Hyderabad: Already destined to a life on the streets, things have got only tougher for Nirmala alias Sara in the last 10 days. The first heartbreak came the morning after Christmas when she woke up to find that her six-month-old boy was missing.

The pain only doubled when she had realised that it was her husband Raju himself who had taken away their child, who was asleep beside her on the pavement near the Malakpet Area Hospital. She ran to the Chaderghat Police, who set up four special teams that took five days and by the night of December 30, traced the baby to LB Nagar, where Raju had sold him off to a childless couple.

Raju and the others involved in the case were arrested while the child, as part of legal procedure, was handed over to Shishu Vihar at Yousufguda till Nirmala could submit her identity documents. That was the beginning of another ordeal for the mother.

Living on the streets and eking out a livelihood by begging, she had no documents to prove that the baby was hers, and with officials insisting on some sort of identity proof, Nirmala was caught in yet another dilemma. For three days, she kept going back to Shishu Vihar, requesting the authorities to hand over her child. With the officials also confused on what to do, Nirmala again approached the police and complained that she could not feed the infant for the last few days. She was also afraid that the baby might fall ill.

“After she came to the police station and told us about the issue, we called up the Child Welfare Committee officials and asked them to allow the mother to meet her child. Our Sub-Inspector Sampath went to Shishu Vihar and helped Nirmala undergo a Covid-19 test at the nearest facility. Later, the Shishu Vihar authorities allowed her to meet the child and also allowed to stay at the facility till the formalities were completed,” said P Satheesh, SHO (Chaderghat).

With the police and the children’s home officials speeding up the procedures, the path was finally cleared for a proper reunion of the mother and her baby on Wednesday. The moment was an emotional one, leaving the police personnel all teary-eyed, even as Nirmala kept thanking them profusely for rescuing her son and bringing him back to her.

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