A 20-year-old speech and hearing impaired woman was reunited with her family in Asansol, West Bengal, after being rescued a few months earlier in the city. On Wednesday, the staff of the Shelter for Homeless Women with Disabilities and the Nungambakkam police came together to trace her family.
Nausaba Khatoon was found at the Central railway station on June 24 during a special drive conducted by the Railway Police. She was rescued and handed over to the shelter run by the Dorcas Research Centre in Kamdar Nagar, Nungambakkam, under the Greater Chennai Corporation.
Aiswarya Rao, founder of the shelter, said Ms. Khatoon was lost and was loitering around the station. They initially did not have any details other than her name, which she was able to write. “She was having some difficulty communicating with us and was angry, uncooperative and agitated. Following sustained support and care, she built a rapport with us and opened up,” she said.
Ms. Rao said Ms. Khatoon enjoyed playing with a smartphone and would search for places including temples and mosques. “Through this, we were able to find out that she was from West Bengal, and she also pointed to pictures of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. She identified pictures of her local leaders and we were able to narrow it down,” she added.
The Nungambakkam F3 police station personnel whom the shelter staff reached out to, worked with the West Bengal police and were able to get in touch with her parents by looking through missing persons reports. A missing person report had been filed by her parents on May 15 through the Kulti police station in Asansol, West Bardhaman.
“It wouldn’t have been possible to trace her family without the cooperation of the Nungambakkam police,” Ms. Rao said her Olga Aaron and Sujatha Aaron, staff from the shelter accompanied Ms. Khatoon to Asansol. and she was reunited with her family on Wednesday at the Kulti Police Station.
