A striking story of kidnapped girl's trials and her happy reunion with her family (12 photos + 1 video)

Indian cinema is a special genre. Touching and funny at the same time. But real stories from the lives of Indians can amaze no less, and even more than fictional screen adventures.





That was the case with this girl, who lived almost two steps away from her family after the kidnapping, but chance and a combination of circumstances helped her return home years later.



Girl went missing when she was 7

When Mumbai resident Poonam Santosh Gaud received this video call in August 2022, she could not believe herself, her eyes and ears. After all, the desperate woman had been waiting for it for nine long years. It was her daughter, her beloved girl, who had disappeared in early 2013 near her school in Mumbai, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. Pooja was only seven years old.

On that ordinary day, January 22, the girl went to school with her older brother, 10-year-old Rohit. Like normal kids, the brother and sister were playing around on the road and even had a little argument. At one point, the boy turned away and lost sight of his sister. But he didn't look for her out of pride, deciding that the stubborn girl had turned into another alley.





Poonam Santosh Gaud - Pooja's mother

However, his heart was uneasy, and after the first lesson, the boy looked in on the first-graders. But the teacher said that Pooja was not in the lesson. And Rohit rushed home. Not yet knowing that his sister had been followed by predators for several days. Two dangerous beasts in human form.

A beloved child or a domestic slave?



Puja's mother did not lose hope and together with her father pasted up posters with information about her daughter

A nice couple called the girl from a car parked on the side of the road, offering her ice cream. Harry D'Souza and his wife Soni could not have children of their own, although the man was already over forty, and the woman was almost thirty. They liked the charming little girl, and the couple decided to steal her and satisfy their need for children in such a terrible way.

When the car sped away, Pooja tried to scream. However, threats quickly silenced her. At first, the girl was taken to Harry's relative. And when things calmed down a bit, the so-called family moved to the city of Raichur in Karnataka.

At first, everything went relatively well. But when Sonya finally managed to get pregnant and give birth to her own baby, everything changed. Her kidnappers and tormentors returned to Mumbai, thinking that the story had been forgotten in three years, and settled near the house where the kidnapped girl's relatives lived.



Pooja Gowda after being rescued

Yes, Pooja was alive. But she was becoming increasingly convinced that life could end at any moment. According to her, the couple threatened her with physical violence if she screamed or drew attention to herself, and later began beating her regularly:

His wife would beat me for every little thing. Sometimes with a rolling pin, sometimes with a belt, and she used very crude language. One time she hit me so hard that my head started bleeding. I only realized how bad it was when someone told me my clothes were soaked in blood.

At first, Pooja was forced to do all the housework, but after the COVID-19 lockdown was imposed in 2020, the couple forced the teenager to work as a cleaner and nanny elsewhere, taking all of her salary:

I felt like I was in prison and could only go out to work and occasionally to the market. There was no way to escape. I had to stay because I had no memory of where I lived as a child.

A lucky break and an attempt at trust



Pramila Devendra helped her young friend find her family

Pooja only found her way home through luck and the fact that her case had attracted enough attention when she was kidnapped in 2013 to make the news.

One day, she managed to snag the kidnappers' mobile phone and googled her name. She came across a missing person's poster online, but the five numbers listed at the bottom for contact were too vague to make out.

It took her several months to find the courage to confide in the person. It was a housekeeper she worked with in a wealthy home and trusted.

"We talked and shared with each other like mother and daughter," said Pramila Devendra, 35.



Mohammad Rafique (centre) played a vital role in reuniting the family, as his phone number, listed on the missing person's poster, was the only one that still worked

Devendra suspected that the teenager was unhappy and being mistreated at home. After all, the girl often came to work in tears, had nosebleeds and complained of pain. But Pramila had no idea that this was because her subordinate had been kidnapped.

The woman decided to take action. She asked a friend to find a better version of the poster online and tried calling all five numbers listed. Only one of them was still active, and it belonged to the Gaud family's neighbor.



Neighbors try to support the family

"When Pramila called me... and when I saw Pooja on the video call, I was shocked. I couldn't believe it," said Mohammad Rafiq.

The man had been involved in the search for the missing seven-year-old girl since the first days of her disappearance and had helped the family cope with their grief.

At first, Rafiq didn't believe it at all, thinking the caller was a scammer. But when he realized that Pramila wasn't asking for money or anything else, he asked to turn on the video call and rushed to his neighbor. When Poonam Santosh Gowda saw Pooja in disarray, she couldn't contain her emotions and burst into tears.

Reunion



Mother and daughter meet after 9 years

The family rushed to the house where the call came from. The happiness of the relatives who found each other again after so many years knew no bounds. The joy of the meeting was overshadowed by the fact that the father never lived to see this meeting and did not see his lost daughter: the man died of cancer four months before the call.

Mumbai police were so excited by the news of Pooja Gowd's reunion with her family that they redoubled their efforts to find the missing children.

The city's police commissioner launched a month-long initiative to find information about children forced into labour, called 'Operation Reunion'.

The culprits were arrested immediately. And that fact alone has become a major deterrent to other would-be kidnappers.

A New Life, New Challenges



Daughter and Mother

But returning home was not the last step for Pooja, but another test. The girl is re-adapting to life at home, trying to cope with the trauma of what she experienced.



Pooja is trying to start life anew

She is often sick, and the medical bills are piling up. Doctors told the family that the beatings have left her with problems with several bones and her spine.

Puja also suffers from nightmares. The poor girl constantly thinks that she hears the voices of her kidnappers behind her.



Together Again

Puja's mother blames the kidnappers for taking everything from her: her husband due to the stress of searching for her daughter, Puja's good health, and the missed milestones of her child's development.

And Puja... despite the difficulties and hardships, she is happy to be back home, to her mother, to her family. That he can once again live a full life and feel alive, without cowering in animal terror, waiting for the next shout or blow.