Safe haven provided to traumatized citizens: THE TELEGRAPH – METRO

THE TELEGRAPH – METRO : In the darkness of Tuesday’s rainy night, it was the last thing the cops had expected to encounter. Out on a routine round after midnight, a team of policemen spotted a figure wading through waist-deep water near the Camac Street-Shakespeare Sarani crossing.

As the jeep went closer to the sole pedestrian on the waterlogged street, the cops realised that it was a young girl. Without wasting any time, they brought her to Shakespeare Sarani police station.

“She was totally drenched and had no clue about where she was coming from or where she was headed. She looked traumatised,” said Hiren Das, the officer-in-charge of Shakespeare Sarani thana.

The police station cannot be the safest of places for a traumatised teenager. So, the cops started looking for a haven for the girl, who after repeated interrogation, revealed her name — Maina.

But finding a safe place turned out to be a difficult task, as all the government and private helplines for destitute children kept on ringing.

When the cops had lost all hope, Nitai Mukherjee responded to the distress call.

“It was around 1.30am when I got to know about the 16 year-old girl. I took out the ambulance and reached the spot with a female colleague,” recounted Mukherjee, executive director, HIVe India, an NGO funded by Hope Foundation, Ireland.

Mukherjee reached the police station by 2.30am. The formalities were completed in an hour’s time and Maina was taken to a home, run by Hope Foundation near Triangular Park, on Rashbehari Avenue.

“A doctor examined her in the morning and gave her medicines. She has slept through the day. She is better, but still looks traumatised,” said the 38-year-old Good Samaritan.

His prompt response came as a relief to the cops, but rescuing people in distress is all in a day’s — and even night’s — work for Mukherjee.

On Tuesday, when most parts of Calcutta was submerged and most citizens stayed indoors, Mukherjee and his team spent the day responding to four such emergencies.

“We rescued three elderly women from the waterlogged streets on Tuesday. Their condition was critical and all of them are in hospital. We will arrange for some accommodation for these people once they are released,” said Mukherjee.