Home is no more sweet for them...!

Home is not a sweet place for them anymore. Taking refuge under the temporary shelter provided by Childline, the duo are awaiting to shift to their, perhaps, second best home.

Home is not a sweet place for them anymore. Taking refuge under the temporary shelter provided by Childline, the duo are awaiting to shift to their, perhaps, second best home.

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13-year-old girl Namita (name changed) and 12-year-old Arti (name changed) are spending days in the safe haven of Childline where these girls came when they felt unsafe elsewhere.

The case of Arti was referred to Childline by Khuldabad police station.

"She was saved by the police from being mistreated at the railway station and was handed over to Childline. It was getting uneasy for this girl of tender age of 12 years to face the continuous thrashing by her father who is a drunkard.

Finding no other option to save her daughter, her mother asked her to flee from home.

However, Arti took refuge at her sister's in-laws' house in Mirzapur where again she was not treated properly and she had to face physical abuse. Thus, somehow she managed to escape and came to Allahabad and now she is staying with us. But her case is exclusive as she is not willing to return to her parents and even her parents are not ready to have their daughter back. We also had rigorous counselling session with her parents who have refused right away to take her back. She will be referred to Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and could probably find shelter in Balika Grih," said Shagufta Naqvi, coordinator of Childline.

The other girl Namita was handed over to Childline by Bamrauli police station on May 27. "She is an orphan and used to work as a household maid in the Air Force colony.

She and her two other sisters went to stay at their uncle's place in Delhi after the death of their parents.

Being unable to shoulder the responsibility of the sisters, they were sent elsewhere to stay with their other relatives. In this process, Namita came to stay in Allahabad with her aunt. Being economically unsound, her aunt sent Namita to work as a maid," related Shagufta.

After working for a few days as a maid servant and unable to adapt herself to the new environment, Namita ran away and was found by the police. "The girl is not ready to go back to her aunt's place. She has pursued her education till class fourth and she wants to study further. Her aunt is also not ready to have her back as she is afraid that the girl might go missing again. Her case will be decided in the next meeting of CWC and most probably she will be sent to stay at Balika Grih where there are facilities of education as well as vocational training," said Shagufta.

"We keep getting such cases frequently and they highlight the issue of child abuse which perhaps needs serious attention," she added.