IDUKKI: For the past 10 years, a room on the fifth floor of the Al Azhar Medical College Hospital in Thodupuzha has remained reserved for a special guest. The walls are decorated with colourful cartoon characters, with toys in the surroundings, textbooks and entertainment facilities, and doctors and caretakers at hand. All these have been arranged for Shafeeq, a 16-year-old.
Belonging to Kumily, Shafeeq was taken under their care by the Al Alzhar Group in 2014 after the boy was rescued from brutal physical assault by his father and stepmother, which had left him nearly dead the preceding year. Shafeeq is looked after by a caretaker named Ragini A H, who was appointed by the state government in 2013, after his relatives were reluctant to take up his guardianship even as he was being treated at the Christian Medical College Hospital in Vellore.
Ragini’s life is now intertwined with that of Shafeeq, as the 45-year-old has now turned a mother to the boy.
“I came to know about Shafeeq through media reports while I was working as a helper at the Uppukulam anganwadi in Elappara. When doctors at the Vellore hospital asked the government to arrange a caretaker for Shafeeq, officials with the women and child development department reached out to interested caretakers at the block and panchayat levels,” Ragini recalls.
As she was unmarried, the experience of having looked after small children at anganwadis prompted her to take up the task. She reached the CMC hospital and met Shafeeq, who was five then, on August 15, 2013.
Ragini recollects that when she first met ‘Vavachi’, his face was pale, lying almost in a coma with injuries all over his body and a grave head injury that had resulted in loss of memory.
“Doctors had little hope. But I would hold his hands all the time and kissed him on the forehead. Whether by miracle or god’s grace, he moved the fingers on his left hand on the fourth day,” she says.
After a year of treatment at the hospital, the government sought a permanent caretaker for Shafeeq who was recuperating and responding to sounds. Meanwhile, Ragini and Shafeeq had developed a mother-son bond.
The Al Azhar Group -- which came forward offering all necessary support to Shafeeq, including his medical needs, education and daily requirements -- adopted the child in 2014. They offered him and Ragini a special room and all other facilities necessary at their hospital.
“A quarters will be given to Shafeeq and Ragini to stay together once the construction of the doctors’ accommodation on the hospital premises is complete,” says Al Azhar Group legal officer Shareef.
The managing director, K M Mijas, points out that there hasn’t been a single event in their family that Shafeeq has not been a part of.“More than hospital facilities, Al Azhar has provided him a family and a bond,” he said.
Shafeeq has also been enrolled in a school run by the group. As he continues to battle health issues, including hormonal imbalance and immunodeficiency because of the severe trauma he endured, a teacher is giving him classes in his room.
Judge to visit Shafeeq today
As the Shafeeq case approaches its conclusion after 11 years, Thodupuzha Additional Sessions Court Judge Ash K Bal will visit the Al Azhar Medical College Hospital to gather evidence directly from Shafeeq. The judge will meet him on Thursday, considering his physical condition and inability to appear before the court to give statements.
Ragini, who remains unmarried, says she sacrificed her life just to protect and take care of the young boy.