LUCKNOW: A day after 8-year-old jungle girl, recovered from the woods of Katarniyaghat wild life sanctuary in Bahriach, hit the headlines, a Lucknow-based NGO Drishti Samajik Sansthan on Friday came forward to adopt the child undergoing treatment in Bhariach District hospital for the last two months.
Drishti Samajik Sansthan provides shelter to mentally challenged destitute children. The 8-year-old was brought to Lucknow to the shelter home on Saturday. The nameless kid, however, has been given the name ‘Puja’ by the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) of State Child and Women Welfare department. The hospital authorities agreed to send the girl to Lucknow only after the CWC’s approval.
Ever since she caught media attention, people started thronging Bahraich hospital to have a glimpse of the child. On Thursday night, she was given another name ‘Van Durga’ by Bahriach district magistrate during his visit to the hospital. “Since she was rescued from the forest so the DM called her ‘Van Durga’,” said a hospital staff.
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The rush on Friday was such that the hospital authorities had to lock the gates to keep visitors outside. "It was becoming difficult to control the crowd,” said Dr DK Singh, chief medical superintendent, Bahraich District Hospital.
Meanwhile, on the advice of CWC, professor PK Dalal, head, Department of Psychiatry, King Georges Medical University, Lucknow also visited ‘Puja’ in Bahraich district hospital to examine her.
Responding to the query if the girl was deaf and dumb since birth, Dr Singh said that it could be so but nothing could be said with certainty as she was often seen mumbling for water.
The girl, first discovered by firewood pickers in the forests of Katarniyaghat and rescued by Motipur range police team, was admitted to the district hospital on January 25. The girl is mentally challenged and is being looked after by a woman staff of the hospital.