Abandoned girls’ granny took their brother, left them to rot

NEW DELHI: The two minor sisters, who were found abandoned at a house in Samaypur Badli with maggots eating their scalp, were at the mercy of their neighbours for the past three months since their mother had left them.

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Their grandmother took their brother with her but left them rotting and malnourished.

Neighbours of the family said they used to feed the children because their father, Bablu, did not care for them. He was an alcoholic and used to return home drunk late in the night.

During the day, we used to feed the girls, said a neighbour.

They said the grandmother asked people if anybody would like to adopt the girls. When nobody came forward, she left them.

They said Bablu and his wife fought frequently and none of them took care of the children.

“They used to beat up their children after they fought,” said one of the neighbours. They said the mother of the girls left for an unknown destination around three months ago.

“Bablu rarely provided for the family. He suspected his wife of having an extra marital affair and kept fighting with her,” said Virender, a neighbour.

He said Bablu went away on August 15, leaving behind his children to die. “He said he had no money to feed the children and buy medicines for them but was often found drunk,” said Virender.

The girls often went asking for food at their neighbour Hema’s home. “The girls would never ask for money. They asked me if I had some work for them. I knew they needed money to buy something to eat,” said Hema.

“We saw them scratching their heads often. It was after blood started oozing out their hair that we came to know how serious their condition was,” said Hema.

Bablu’s landlord said the children were living in a dark and dingy room with no one to care for them. “The girls had been complaining about pain in the head for the past three weeks. They would scratch their heads due to maggots eating away their scalp,” the landlord said.

On August 18, the landlord asked the police to rescue the girls after their father abandoned them too. The girls were rushed to Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital in Rohini where they have been under special treatment since.

The sisters, frail due to hunger and thirst, were found on a rickety charpoy in a dingy room. The ground floor home — where the family had been staying on rent for two years — is near Shiv Mandir in Nepali Colony.

The doctors said the girls did not eat for four days after they were brought to the hospital due to infection.