Jammu:
A mother who is missing, a father who may or may not want them, and a sweeper who rescued them from the Jammu train station where they were huddled together.
The last 72 hours have been bewildering for three little girls - aged one, two and three. The eldest says her name is Kajal. She does not know her siblings' names, but they play within reach.
They are at an SOS home outside Jammu - the fourth place they have been moved to in the last few days. They will stay here till officials and the police decide if their father - located after a two-day hunt - can be trusted to look after them. The man has been arrested and sent to police remand.
They were discovered at the station on Saturday by a man named Gurdev Singh, who looked after them through the night, till the police took over. He says the baby cried a lot. He visited them today, and said they seem more settled. He has a family of his own in Jallandhar, he says, and wishes he could bring up these girls, but there isn't enough money to go around.
"The father of these three children has been identified. Two things can happen. If he takes back the children, that's one thing. But suppose if he declines or he does not take care of them or we are not satisfied that he will not abandon them again, in that case we are thinking of sending them to some adoption centre," says Pawan Kotwal, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu.
If the girls' parents indicate they don't want to bring up the children, a long and legal process will be followed before families or an NGO interested in adopting them can get involved. The officials looking after them suspect it will be tough to find a family that can take in all three girls.
NDTV viewers and surfers are sending in offers for financial assistance. But the state administration will have to first determine what sort of bank account can be set up to help the girls. (
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