Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (SP)
Kundapur Aug 24: A deaf and dumb woman from Maqdoom Colony, Bhatkal, who had lost her way and went missing during her bus journey to Hemmady to meet her grandson two months back, has finally been found.
A woman home guard volunteer, who had read about the plight of the woman who is unable to communicate with others or write down what she wants, saw Zulekha who was loitering around the railway station here on Wednesday August 23. When Zulekha was about to board a train, the woman stopped her and contacted her family members. The family members of Zulekha began their journey from Bhatkal and Kundapur and will be taking Zulekha back home on Thursday morning.
Zulekha had travelled to Santosh Nagar in Hemmady near here by a private express bus on June 23 from Bhatkal. As she could not identify Hemmady when the bus passed through this village because of change of landscape on account of highway widening work, the conductor had offloaded her at Shastri Circle here. Lack of communication skills and confusion about the road she wanted to take made her to travel in the opposite direction towards Udupi and Mangaluru. On June 28, a guard at the railway station at Mangaluru had offered her food. Thereafter she was not seen.
A missing complaint had been filed in the local police station. Zulekha's son, Abdul Razack, came from Qatar where he works, to get involved with the search operation for his mother. He and other family members undertook searches at various places small and big, particularly in bus stands, railway stations, and other public places and made inquiries. They also had put up banners and posters containing Zulekha's photos to spread the message and enable people to contact the family if they found the woman. A reward of Rs 10,000 had also been announced for people finding the woman and providing information to her family.