Date:07/04/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/07/stories/2008040760350300.htm

New Delhi

Parents abandon their daughter

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: A married couple parted ways abandoning their nine-year-old girl at Shakarpur here. While the police have launched a hunt for her father, the girl has been kept in the custody of a non-government organisation as her mother has refused to take her back.

The girl was found abandoned near her house at Ramesh Park in Shakarpur. She told the police that her father went missing on March 19, following which her mother lodged a missing report at the area police station. On April 1, her mother locked the house and vanished from the scene, leaving her outside.

The girl’s mother was traced to her parents’ house in Tilak Nagar, but she refused to take her back. “She did so apparently under pressure from her brothers,” said a police officer, adding that her husband used to torture her physically.