Unemployed man puts trust in God to reunite with ‘missing’ daughter

Ahmedabad couple files for annulment of her adoption; girl’s biological parents have no money to hire lawyer

Lovleen Bains & Harshraj Singh

Tribune reporters

Sahnewal/Ludhiana, Aug 28

An 11-year-old girl residing at Jugiana village in Ludhiana district went missing in May 2018, and the police had failed to trace her. She was put up for adoption in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, while she had her family back home in Punjab. In her flashbacks, she recalled her biological parents.

The Ahmedabad couple has now filed an annulment of the girl’s adoption in a Ludhiana court. The girl has been sent back to a child protection home pending the dispute. The girl’s biological parents, both daily-wage workers, had filed a missing person complaint on May 16, 2018.

The girl’s biological parents are at present sans daughter, job and money. “Nothing left,” says Gopal, the girl’s distraught father. “It is just once that we were allowed to meet Pratigya ever since she was shifted to an ashram in Talwandi Khurd almost a month ago, and that too with the permission of the Deputy Commissioner. All my three sons insisted on getting rakhi tied from their only sister on Rasksha Bandhan, after which it became next to impossible to separate them from her as they pleaded to be together. “Didi! Please come with us. Daddy! Take my sister along. Please ask these people to allow her to come with us,” cried eight-year-old Shankar, the eldest son after Pratigya, as he saw his sister after a gap of more than a year.

“It is Gods will. I am trying my level best to get my daughter back by all means. My children have become numb ever since they met their sister on Rakhi. They just want their sister back. I am a strong believer in God. If He has kept my daughter alive till now, it is surely with a purpose,” said the optimistic father.

Meanwhile, the Chairperson of Child Welfare Committee Ludhiana, Jatinderpal Singh, said the adoption case belonged to the period before constitution of the current committee. The girl is at the child protection home in Ludhiana while her biological parents are waiting to be united with their daughter.

“My sons want their sister back at all costs. But little do they know that it is not that easy. I have become a pauper. Even after spending whole of my earnings, my search for my daughter has still not ended. Ever since we lost her, we have been on the move. I and my wife failed to be regular at work and were sacked. Now, I have come to know that I shall have to hire an advocate to get back my daughter who, in turn, demanded Rs 5,000 from me. We are passing through really tough time and meeting both ends meet has become next to impossible for us. I fail to understand as to where are we at fault and why are we being asked to undergo all this?” asks girl’s biological father Gopal.

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