Boy abandoned in Raviwar Peth

Witnesses say rag-picker couple dumped 'mentally underdeveloped' child on pavement and fled

Witnesses say rag-picker couple dumped 'mentally underdeveloped' child on pavement and fled

A STRANGE drama unfolded next to Badriya High school in Raviwar Peth yesterday night when a few rag-pickers

Helping hand: Taher Poonawala, who called the police, holds the boy

reportedly dumped a young handicapped boy on the pavement outside a shop and ran away.

Between five and seven years of age, the boy did not seem to be mentally fully developed, said doctors at Sassoon hospital, where the boy was taken.

The identity of the boy could not be ascertained.

Officials of the Khadak police station said they received a call around 9.30 pm from residents of the area.
MiD DAY reached the spot where the boy was abandoned a few minutes before the police and learnt what had happened from the people gathered.

"I saw the couple who abandoned him. They were rag-pickers, looked like they were in their 50's, and were heavily drunk," said Taher Poonawala, who had called the police. "This is a commercial street and all shops had closed down by 8.30 pm. I saw them stop near a shop called Kishore Metals; it was around 9.15 pm."
When Poonawala asked the couple who the boy they were leaving behind was, they said they were just keeping him there while they went to collect garbage nearby.

"The boy started crying very loudly and a crowd formed here. When they didn't return for a long time, we realised he had been abandoned and called the police," he said.

Poonawala then cradled the boy in his arms and a few residents fed him milk with a spoon until the police team arrived and admitted the child to Sassoon.

Dr Sunil Zope, senior resident medical officer on duty, admitted the boy to the paediatric unit. He said the child appeared to be severely retarded and even malnourished.

"Only detailed investigations can tell why his body appears so weak and his hands and legs so thin," said Zope.
The boy is expected to be in Sassoon for a few days, after which he will be sent to a welfare home for young children, said Assistant Police Inspector Shahbuddin Mulla.