Tortured by mom, 6-year-old girl rescued in Gujarat

RAJKOT: In what turns out to be a sordid tale of severe child neglect, a six-year-old fatherless girl had to rescued by her father’s family from the torturous clutches of her own biological mother and her maternal aunt in Navagam village in Thangadh taluka of Surendranagar district on Thursday.
The severely undernourished and injured minor who was kept locked inside a dingy room. had to be admitted to the Rajkot Civil Hospital for treatment. However, the woman and her aunt with whom the girl lived, fled the spot fearing backlash.
According to primary details, girl’s father Devesh Rangapara (name changed died four years ago. The crime perpetrated on the little girl would have remained confined within the house had her uncle not paid her a visit when the family had come to the village to attend an engagement ceremony.
"On Thursday, when girl’s uncle Hitesh’s family and other relatives came to Navagam for an event in the family, they met the girl’s mother, Mithi (name changed). But she lied to them that her daughter had gone to her maternal home when they inquired about the minor. The uncle was, however, not convinced by the explanation and so, he went to check their house himself and found the house locked from outside. He jumped a wall to enter the house and found the girl locked up inside a room,” said sources.
Hitesh was totally shocked to find the minor alone in the room with a stale bread and a bowl of water beside her. He got suspicious that the girl may have also been physically tortured seeing the injury marks on her body. But the girl was too scared to reveal and claimed that these were wasp stings. The uncle did not give up and softly convinced the girl to reveal the horrific tale she had been subjected to daily.
The minor finally confiuded to her uncle the whole story on how her mother thrashed her over domestic chores and didn’t give her food, and also that the injury marks were borne from the clamp that she used to pin the girl. The uncle lost no time in rushing back to his family who were at the event and told them about his horrible discovery.
An angry clan cornered Mithi and her maternal aunt, Prabha Dabhi, demanding the truth, but both women escaped from the spot.
Rajkot police took the statement of the minor and her uncle and sent details to Chotila police for further probe in this case.