Abandoned girl finds new home, but school asks for birth certificate

Three years since that evening when Rekha chased away the dogs, held the bleeding infant girl in her arms and ran to the hospital, the child has become a question mark for the state Education department. Re-born in a rubbish bin, she has no birth certificate, and the law says she can’t be admitted to a school without it.

After the rescue, Rekha had tended to the infant girl for over a week, at the New Civil hospital, praying she would recover from the dog bites. When she did, no one could tell her what to do with the baby. She had two chronically ailing and unemployed sons in their thirties and an unwell husband back home, all living on whatever meagre income she earned as a housemaid.

But Rekha nevertheless decided to bring up the infant girl as her own. She took her home, called in the neighbours, distributed sweets to announce her new child. While many offered to adopt the infant, she refused. Since she came to her from nowhere, Rekha named the baby Falak (sky) and celebrated every June 14, the day she rescued her from the dogs, as her birthday.

As the deadline approached, someone advised Rekha that she could try for an affidavit in lieu of a birth certificate, but the school rejected it. Even visits to the Surat district panchayat office and later the district primary education office were of no avail. Falak is no longer allowed into the school. District Primary Education Officer P N Dave said he had spoken to the school’s trustees and requested them to allow Falak to study and to charge no fees from her. “I also had a talk with a paediatrician and the girl will be taken to his hospital for confirming her age. We will give her a birth certificate after that.”