Abandoned as an infant, 21-year-old returns to Mumbai in search of her birth parents

It was in a Shiva temple, that a month-old Neha was found by a sweeper in the early hours of the morning on June 8, 2002

Mumbai: Growing up in France, a girl with an Indian name Neha, felt different from her adoptive white French parents and peers around her. She spoke French and dressed like them, but she always felt curious about her roots and heard stories about her home country- India. The longing to reconnect with her origins pushed Neha to start looking for her biological parents, a journey she began in the year 2020.

When Neha came face-to-face with Khiske, both teared up. “Neha is the first to return among the children my father has found,” said Daya, Khiske’s son. “With age, he has gotten emotional. He remembers she was found wrapped in a ‘godri,’ a dupatta made of old clothes. (Gaurav Bhakare)

Nearly four years later, on Saturday, 21-year-old Neha met 72-year-old Vinayak Khiske, a retired caretaker of Sri Vaidyanatha Temple, an ancient Shiva temple in Parli Vaijnath, in Beed district.

It was in this Shiva temple, a month-old Neha was found by a sweeper in the early hours of the morning on June 8, 2002, and thus she came into Vinayak Khiske’s short-lived possession.

Khiske has come across 40 to 50 abandoned babies – some alive, some dead – in his 50-year tenure as a caretaker. No one had seen Neha being dropped there, nor were there any cameras then to keep watch. After an unsuccessful search of a few hours, the baby was handed over to the police, come what may.

When Neha came face-to-face with Khiske, both teared up. “Neha is the first to return among the children my father has found,” said Daya, Khiske’s son. “With age, he has gotten emotional. He remembers she was found wrapped in a ‘godri,’ a dupatta made of old clothes.”

Emotionally fraught, Neha could but say barely a few words. “It moves me that he found me and that now, 21 years later, we found him,” she said in French, wiping off tears. With her parents bridging the gap between their languages – Khiske can converse in English – he showed her to the spot where she was found sleeping.

For Neha, steadfast in her search for her biological parents, this was the closest she had gotten to them. Neha’s search has been on since 2020. Through the internet, she reached out to the Organisation Against Child Trafficking (ACT), led by Arun Dohle. He connected her to the advocate Anjali Pawar, who is part of the Pune-based Adoptee Rights Council. The duo helps adopted children search for their biological parents.

“Kids like Neha look visibly different from their adopted parents, so they know from an early age they are adopted,” said Pawar. “They have a need to find out who they are and where they come from.” Sharing the documents Neha and her family possessed, Pawar was able to trace back Neha’s life after she was separated from her biological parents. Landing in Mumbai on Friday, they made the rounds.

They first went to the organisation she was adopted from, to a French couple, under a guardianship petition in 2003, No. 186/2003. “The organisation, Preet Mandir in Pune, is now shut because it was found to be involved in a scam. A lot of children given up for adoption from there were found to be sourced in a shady manner, as there’s a lot of money to be made in adoption. They’re still being investigated by the CBI,” said Pawar.

The entourage went to Parli, where Neha was found in the temple and then produced before the Juvenile Welfare Board, Pandharpur, and then admitted to the Navrange Balak Ashram there for temporary custody till June 29, 2002.

“When Neha first approached us, with the few documents they had, I started my search among the police records,” said Pawar. “That took a while, as it was all those years back. Through the incident report, I found the name of the police inspector in charge and Khiske, her discoverer. I set out to find them.”

Meeting the temple trustees, Pawar dug around till she was able to find Khiske in December 2020, now retired. COVID-19 slowed down her search, but finally, she was able to find out that the police officer in charge of the case had died just last year.

“Neha wanted to see the places she spent the first year of her life, her origin. Through this, we also wanted to spread the news of her on the lookout for her parents, so anyone in the know can come forward with any information. That has not happened till now. Only after a DNA test, will we let the parents meet Neha,” said Pawar.

When asked possibly why Neha was abandoned, both Khiske and Pawar point to the prejudice against girl children rampant at that time. Pawar mentions that many girl children were killed in their homes, and takes the name of a doctor who facilitated the murders.

“It is certainly special that we have been able to trace a very crucial link in Neha’s past, especially in a case as difficult,” said Dohle. Dohle himself was adopted, started the search for his biological mother in 1993, and went the lengths in the High Court and Supreme Court to be successful in 2010. “Someone, a neighbour, family, or friend, must know about the abandoned child. We hope they come forward.”

Neha will, for now, embark on a tour of north India with her adopted parents as a tourist, exploring the country of her birth. Then, she will head back to France – but only till any further news. The search goes on.