BHUBANESWAR: A tribal woman of Mayurbhanj, who was driven out of her community on the suspicion of practising witchcraft and separated from her minor daughter 10 years back, finally reunited with her recently. The reunion was facilitated by the woman’s employer and the Women and Child Development department.
A decade back, the tribal community had ostracised Ashabari Singh after accusing her of killing her husband by sorcery. In a kangaroo court, in-laws of Ashabari decided to ostracise her and took custody of her daughter Madhumita Singh. It was decided that the girl will be raised by her paternal uncle and his family. She was only three years old then.
With no money and nowhere to go, Ashabari said a follower of Sri Aurobindo found her and took her to Puducherry where he provided her a job as a domestic help for a local family. “The family was empathetic towards my plight but due to language issues, I could not tell them about my daughter,” she said, while narrating her ordeal.
Back home after a few months, villagers alleged the girl was not being taken care of properly by her uncle and informed the local police about it. Subsequently, police and officials of the department rescued the girl and sent her to a child care institution (CCI). At the CCI, the girl’s nutrition and other needs were taken care of and she was also enrolled in a local school.
After a few years when Ashabari managed to learn Tamil, she told her employer about her daughter. However, she informed that her daughter’s name was Madhavi and she was residing with her in-law’s family. Subsequently, the employer contacted the district child protection officer (DCPO) of Mayurbhanj and inquired about Madhavi. The DCPO then sent out the details of the girl, her family and address to all child care units within the district and outside.
“Personnel of the CCI where the girl was, recognised the address but said her name was Madhumita Singh. It took a few years to ascertain that Ashabari had actually named her daughter Madhavi but the girl’s name was changed to Madhumita either by her uncle or was recorded wrongly at the CCI,” said an official.
After all the formalities were completed, Ashabari was finally reunited with Madhavi on January 5 this year by the department officials. The girl who is 13 -year-old now and still under CCI care is studying in Class IX. She will be appearing for her Class X examinations next year.