A woman from Basti district of Uttar Pradesh who was found wandering the streets of Guna in Madhya Pradesh with her 2-year-old child has been returned to her family, thanks largely to the efforts of Guna Collector Vijay Dutta.

Dutta was informed about the woman wandering around the streets at around 9 p.m. on 1 September, by a local social worker, Pramod Bhargava. The collector immediately directed the women employment officer of the district to rescue her and take her to the ‘One Stop Centre’, set up in every district of the state under the Union government’s women and child development ministry.

“An officer is not only responsible to maintain administration in his jurisdiction but he should also be humane. Such cases like handing over the woman to her family give inner satisfaction,” said Dutta.

The officers and police initially faced difficulty in understanding the dialect of the woman but their perseverance paid off and they learnt that she was Bholi Bai Khatik of UP’s Basti district and was married to Bhola Khatik.

The district administration managed to get in touch with the woman’s family but they expressed their inability to come to Guna due to financial constraints. She had left home around four months back.

The Additional District Magistrate made arrangements to send the woman to Basti with the help of police personnel in Guna and even made railways reservations on 10 September but at the last moment she refused to leave and demanded that her husband come to take her home.

Finally, the district administration with the help of the police administration of Basti brought her husband from Basti to Guna, and she left with him on 14 September. She was handed over to her husband Bhola Khatik and her brother-in-law Ramdhani in the presence of ASP Purnima Lambe, administrator of Woman and Child Development Department Uma Sharma and Counselor Rekha Saxena.

“The collector of the district is known for his humanity. He is very sensitive to women and needy. So we decided to call collector Dutta sir directly for immediate aid to the woman and her child. As a result, due to efforts of district collector, the woman met her family members,” said social worker Pramod Bhargava.