Falak fights on as police search for 'adoptive' parents

New Delhi: The determined survival of a two-year-old baby who was brought to the hospital, bitten and battered, continues to surprise attending doctors at the All India Medical Institute of Sciences (AIIMS).

When Falak was brought to AIIMS on January 18 her head was badly smashed, her arms were broken and shockingly, she had bite marks on her body while her cheeks had been branded with hot iron.

Her injuries were reminscient of the horror stories that detail how trafficked children are deliberately maimed by mafia that run begging networks in cities.

Speaking to the Times of India, Dr M C Misra, chief, AIIMS Trauma Centre, said, “Now, we are hopeful she might survive. She has been off ventilator for nearly 72 hours, but we can’t say much about the prognosis. But even if she survives, her cognitive functions will get affected."

The same report quotes Dr Deepak Aggarwal, assistant professor, neurosurgery, AIIMS Trauma Centre, crediting Falak’s perseverance to her age. “…she has survived for nearly 11 days with such serious injuries and two heart attacks. This is remarkable. The only advantage she has is that she is very young. Brain’s adaptability and plasticity is very good at this age, therefore, children recover faster than adults."

There have been numerous offers of support for Falak from various quarters. The National Commission of Women has said it will adopt Falak and also offered to sponsor her education. CNN IBN reports that the father of the teenager who brought Falak in wants to adopt her.

Police sources told CNN-IBN that they have pieced together the chain of events that led to the baby being battered. In June, the 15-year-old girl ran away from her father’s home alleging abuse. The father, a vegetable vendor, had then filed a missing persons report.

The girl then lived with her aunt for 2 months, but ran away from there as well to live with Rajkumar, a taxi driver who has a wife and children of his own in Mumbai.

Raj Kumar then reportedly took custody of Falak from a friend of his and left the baby in the girl’s custody around new year’s day.

Police sources say, the girl, abandoned by RajKumar and having to care for the baby, battered the toddler in a fit of rage. Days later on January 18 she brought her to the AIIMS trauma centre.

The hunt is on for the Delhi-based taxi driver and his wife who are reportedly residents of Dwarka.

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