Maharashtra: Missing girl recaptures trauma, being found after nine years

• Pooja Gaud, 16, is finally allowed to lay her head on her mother’s lap after nine arduous years.
• Pooja, who was seven years old at the time, vanished on January 22, 2013.
• She claims a couple tempted her with ice cream and picked her up from outside her school in Mumbai, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.

Pooja Gaud, 16, is finally allowed to lay her head on her mother’s lap after nine arduous years, Pooja, who was seven years old at the time, vanished on January 22, 2013. She claims a couple tempted her with ice cream and picked her up from outside her school in Mumbai, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.

She was discovered on August 4 in what is being referred to as “a miracle escape.” Poonam Gaud, her mother, exclaims that she is ecstatic.

“I had given up hope of ever finding my daughter. But the gods have been kind to me,” she says.

According to the police, Harry D’Souza and his wife Soni D’Souza abducted the youngster because they didn’t have any children of their own. They have Mr. D’Souza in custody.

Pooja previously resided in a tiny home in a suburban slum neighborhood with her two brothers, parents, and other family members.

She had departed for school that day with her older brother, but after the two had a quarrel, he went into the school and left her behind because he was running late. The duo allegedly grabbed her at that point after promising to buy her an ice cream.

Pooja claims that the pair threatened to injure her if she screamed or attracted attention to herself. They first took her to Goa and subsequently to Karnataka, states in western and southern India.

She claims that after a brief period of being permitted to go to school, she was expelled and the family moved to Mumbai after the couple had their own child.

After the kid was delivered, according to Pooja, the abuse worsened.

“They would beat me with a belt, kick me, and punch me. One time they beat me with a rolling pin so badly that my back began to bleed. I was also made to do chores at home and work in 12 to 24-hour-long jobs outside.”

Although D’Souza’s home was not far from her folks, she claims that being unable to call for assistance or attempt to navigate her way home was due to her lack of familiarity with the area’s roads, constant surveillance, and lack of money and a phone.

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