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Tender dreams shattered

Numbness gave way to pain as this minor girl, Neena (name changed) from an extremely remote area of Himachal Pradesh…

Tender dreams shattered

Unaware father, Badri Ram with his minor twin daughters in IGMC, Shimla (Photo : Lalit Thakur)

Numbness gave way to pain as this minor girl, Neena (name changed) from an extremely remote area of Himachal Pradesh tried to come to terms with reality, sitting beside the bed of her twin sister, who is under treatment for depression and physical injury at state run Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) hospital here.

Neena’s sister was brought to the hospital two days back reportedly in a state of shock and fear, after she was allegedly beaten up by a family member in the house, where the two sisters were made to work.

“We were beaten up and jostled in routine at the house on a small mistake and were threatened of dire consequences if we tell all this to our parents,” said Neena (aged around 13 years) with tears in eyes.

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“We readily stepped out of home, thinking that it will help us fulfil our dreams. I wanted to study and become a teacher and my sister wished to be a Police officer. Everything got shattered,” she said. Neena passed out seventh last year from the village school.

The sordid tale of twin sisters, who are from backward Dhar Chandna village in Kupvi belt of Shimla district, has to do with the alleged undeclared ‘link-ups’ taking advantage of abject poverty and unawareness in the interiors of the hill state.

The minor girls were sent by their illiterate father, Badri Ram, 59 a poor farmer and father of six children, including five girls, to live with a family in Paonta Sahib in Sirmaur through an acquaintance in adjoining Ronhat area 11 months ago.

“The person in Ronhat said his God sister’s family in Paonta Sahib in Sirmaur would take care of education of my daughters. In lieu, the girls would do clean their home after school hours. I agreed and sent them. I didn’t know that they would put my daughters to work all through the day and torture them,”Badri Ram alleged.

He said the family in Paonta Sahib never allowed his daughters to go to school after admission.

He shared that he was informed by the family last week that one of his daughters was admitted to a private hospital in Dehdradun as she was sick. “My daughter was unconscious and they did not come to see her or pay for her treatment after I reached there,” he narrated.

Badri Ram was later sent an ambulance in Dehradun from Shimla by a known in IGMC canteen to bring his ailing daughter.

At IGMC, senior medical superintendent, Dr Ramesh Chand extended free medication to the poor girl. He even mobilised local organisation, Umang Foundation, help out girls and their father cope with the situation.

Badri Ram has since submitted a complaint against torture of his daughters to the Police higher ups here. “The Police headquarters have forwarded me the complaint, but I am outside right now and haven’t seen it. I will look into it,” said the District Police Chief, Sirmaur, Soumya Sambasivan.

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