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Kidnapped and sold off at 8, ‘girl’ gets family back after 49 years
After 49 years, Phoola Devi, kidnapped at age 8, reunites with her Azamgarh family, thanks to a teacher's help and police efforts under 'Operation Muskaan'.
Little did she know that a casual visit to a fair with her mother will prove risky to her to the extent that she will be kidnapped and sold off at the tender age of 8.
Almost after 49 years, that little girl, who is now a 57-year-old woman living in village Raipur of Rampur district, has been reunited with her family in Azamgarh.
The woman identified as Phoola Devi alias Phoolmati, from Raunapar police station area of Azamgarh district, had gone to a fair in Moradabad in 1975 and since then she had been missing.
As per the press statement, superintendent of police, city, Azamgarh Shailendra Lal was informed by Dr Pooja Rani, a teacher at Primary School Pajawa Bilaspur, Rampur district on December 19 about a woman named Phoola Devi/Phoolmati, 57, from Azamgarh who had gone to Moradabad district in 1975 when she was 8 years old, with her mother Shyamadei.
In Moradabad market, an old man lured her and took her with him, and kept her with him for a few days. Then he allegedly sold the girl to a person named Lalta Prasad Gangwar of Rampur district. After a few years, Lalta Prasad married her, and the couple had a son Sompal. The woman was now searching for her family and said that she was from Azamgarh.
On the basis of the information received, a police team went to Rampur district and brought the victim to Azamgarh. During interrogation, the victim only remembered her maternal uncle’s name as Ramchandra who lived in Chuntidar.
On the basis of the information, a police team started searching in Chuntidar village in Azamgarh and the adjoining districts. However, it was found that Chuntidar village was in Doharighat police station of Mau district instead of Azamgarh, said SP city Shailendra Lal.
The police reached the house of the victim’s maternal uncle where one of the three maternal uncles Ramhit was found, who confirmed the victim’s disappearance and told that the woman also has a brother named Laldhar who lived in village Vedpur under police station Raunapar area of district Azamgarh.
The police immediately spoke to the victim’s brother and the woman was reunited with her family under ‘Operation Muskaan’ which is aimed at reuniting and recovering kidnapped/missing persons.
The woman said that Lalta Prasad, who married her, died a few years later.
Their son was just five years old and she brought him up by working as a labourer.
“I had no other means to earn livelihood. With the passage of time, I forgot everything, but the only thing that I remembered was the name of my maternal uncle Ramchandra. One day, the school teacher asked about my parents and I narrated my tale of woes. She spoke to SP city Azamgarh on phone and I was reunited with my brother,” she said.
