A school bus driver allegedly killed a two-year-old boy byrunning him over aer offering him a chocolate.

On November 8, Laxmannayak (32), a Swaraj Mazda busdriver, asked the child to step outside his house by offeringhim a bar of chocolate. When the toddler, Nitin, steppedinto the road, Laxmannayak ran over him and fled, saidHanumesh, Assistant Sub-Inspector Police of Bidadi.

He added, “Nitin was rushed to Rajarajeshewari Hospitalbut was declared brought dead. e on-lookers started pelt-ing stones at the bus as soon as they witnessed the incidentbut the driver escaped them and was on the run ever since.”

Nitin is the only son of Govindraju and Anita. When Nitinwas born, Govindraju set Anita on fire as he suspected herof having an illicit affair. In his rage, he even attempted tokill Nitin but was unsuccessful.

e case was registered in Kunigal Police Station. Govin-draju accepted all the allegations against him and was sent

,to the Central Jail soon aer the proceedings. e newlyborn Nitin was being raised by Rakesh, Govindraju’s cousin.

Rakesh, a stamp vendor, said, “Nitin’s grandparents and Ilooked aer him for two years. His death is still a shock forall of us.”

“We cannot manage life without him as he had becomea very important member of our family.”

“ When we informed Govindraju about his son’sdeath, he refused to perform the final rites and ex-pressed pleasure in the incident. I myself per-formed the rites on November 9.”

Kumar, Bidadi Police Constable said, “e casewas registered under sections 279 for rash driv-ing or riding on public and 304A for punish-ment for culpable homicide not amounting tomurder of 187 Motor Vehicle Act in the In-dian Penal Code. We caught the driver onNovember 10 but he is now out on bail.”

Nitin’s grandmother, Venkatamma, said, “Ilost my son first because of the crime hecommitted now I lost my grandson as well.I have nothing le in life to live for.”

Narayanswami, Nitin’s grandfather said,“We are saddened aer the incident. More-over, the fact that my own son refused toperform the final rites has hurt us im-mensely.”

e case is investigated by Circle Inspec-tor of Police of Bidadi. e motive for themurder is still unclear.

e authorities of yagaraju Central Schoolwhose driver was Laxmannayak expressed severepunishment for him but refused to give any publicstatement.

The weekly

VOL 13 ISSUE 18 ursday, November 14, 2013

Observer

PAGE 3 PAGE 5 PAGE 6

National Children’sDay special: Insidean orphanage

Child labour

rampant in Silk

City.

Modi faces legalchallenge aheadof rally.

Crushed for candyPrutha Bhosle

Le: Nitin, a two-year-old, was crushed under the school bus aer the driver, Laxmannayak, tricked him to come outside the house by offering a bar of chocolate. Right: e yagaraju Central School bus that was vandalized by on-lookers who got agitated aer witnessing the killing and stoned the bus.

e Weekly Observer ursday, November 14, 2013 2

A city on the rise

Bidadi is the Bangalore of the fu-ture, according to industrialistsand some of the world’s leadingbrand names.

In the last decade the small townon the road to Mysore from Banga-lore has burgeoned into a thrivingbusiness hub. Cheap land, easy ac-cess and an abundant supply ofwater has propelled the town witha population of 40,000 into a thriv-ing metropolis in the making.

Companies like Bosch, CocalCola, Wipro, Toyota, Kirloskar havemoved there or are in the process ofdoing so. With land at just onecrore an acre, compared to SarjapurRoad which would cost three, it’s abusiness bonanza for locals, happyto sell their land for huge profits tothe multi-nationals.

Prasad C.T, owner of Hanu Reddyreal estate agency said, “It will be awell organized town and will alwayshave a possibility for growth of re-alty. It is expected for Bidadi to dowell as the approach to the town isgood. With supportive policies forinfrastructure development by thegovernment Bidadi will attractmore builders.”

Bidadi, emerging to be the hotfavourite among builders and

multinational companies, will soonbe developed like the main city ofBangalore.

Situated in Ramanagaram Taluk,Bidadi is developing on a faster rateand plans to make its mark on themap of Karnataka.

e Bangalore Metropolitan Re-gion Development Authority hadannounced Bidadi to be a townshipand the plan for Bidadi KnowledgeCity is in the pipeline.

According to the real estate agent,the major demand will be for villaprojects and budget apartments asthe villas projects are better suitedfor the open lands in Bidadi. Tocater to the middle income popula-tion, affordable apartments are alsoon growing demand.

Right now individual buyers arenot reaching out to Bidadi but it isthe investors who are looking forland for layout. e current landrates is approximately one crore peracre and that is low as compared tothe other parts in Bangalore.

Investors are looking for plots, asin years to come it will reap betterbenefits. Visionaries who invest inBidadi will reap long term benefits,as they will get better returns whenthe end users buy land from theseinvestors. Farmers are happy to sell

off their land as they are getting agood price.

With companies coming into thepicture, residential projects havealso started picking up. In the com-ing years, the Bangalore – Mysorebelt is going to see excellent growth.It will be the newer Bangalore likethe Hosakote Road.

Dhiraj Singh, communicationshead at Bosch said, “e Bangalore

plant at Adugodi, of Bosch hasgrown to its full capacity and connot accommodate further expan-sion. us shiing to a new loca-tion with ample expansionpotential for future is the call of thehour to cater to the rapidly growingbusiness needs.”

He added that apart from a signif-

icantly larger area, the relocation tothe developing industrial area inBidadi will result in availability ofbetter infrastructure support andtransport facilities.

Being a responsible corporate cit-izen Bosch has also taken this deci-sion to relocate keeping in view theappeal of the State Government toshi manufacturing operations tonew and futuristic industrial beltsdeveloped by them from the heartof the city in order to de-congestthe locality.

Builders like Confident Group,Puravankara and ETA Star Prop-erty Developers Limited have al-ready begun their housing projectsin the area.

Ramprasad nagaraj, resident andindustrialist in Bidadi said: “edevelopment in Bidadi has beenuneven. Usually aer Diwali, a lotof projects come up in real estatebusiness but this year it was to beslow.

“Even though it has been a slowgrowth in Bidadi, it still sees a lot ofdevelopment. e industrial devel-opment has picked up really fast inBidadi and has triggered the resi-dential projects too.

Prasad C.T added that the con-nectivity in this area is good and it

links two major cities in the state.One major factor that will be a pos-itive influence for real estate devel-opment in the area is abundance ofwater. Unlike other areas in Banga-lore, Bidadi has no scarcity of water.

But Ramprasad has a differentstory to tell, according to him, therehave been water problems due toindustrial activity in the recentyears.

ere hasn’t been acute shortagebut groundwater level has been de-creasing. One more important fac-tor is the land till Channapatna isuneven and downstream; this maybe a hindrance in the real estatebusiness of this area.

e industrialist is however happywith the overall progress the townhas made. “I have been living inBidadi since 1985 and it was notuntil 2003 that we saw developmentin Bidadi.

“Now we have a lot of educationalinstitutions and industries in thisbelt which is positive. ere was atime there were only 2 banks herenow there are 16 branches of differ-ent banks in Bidadi, that itselfspeaks of the forthcoming develop-ment. I am sure Bidadi will beequally developed as Bangalore cityin the next 10 years.”

Shweta Nair

Bosch shied its plant to Bidadi aer expansion in July. Wipro office in Bidadi, an upcoming industrial hub.

Prasad C.T, a real estate agentin the city said, “Bidadi iscatching up with regards toreal estate development. eBangalore – Mysore belt is de-veloping slowly but steadily.e railway line and the NiceRoad project has boosted thereal estate business in the area.However it will take another 3– 5 years for Bidadi to catch upas compared to other parts ofBangalore.”

e Weekly Observer ursday, November 14, 2013 3

A bus agent was allegedly mur-dered by his rival, with whom hiswife had an extra marital affair.

Manjunath, 40, a private bus agentwas found dead near omasschool in Bidadi on 26 March. Saro-jamma, first wife of the victim filleda complaint in Bidadi Police Sta-tion.

e victim’s body had marks ofstabbing on his back and stomach,and his head was severally hit be-cause of which the victim had diedon the spot.

Aer investigating, police havearrested Manjunath alias KatleManju, 33, as a main accused. Ku-mara, 32, Rajesh, 24 and Chelavu-raju, 22, are also arrested onmurder charges.

Anil kumar, circle-inspector atRamnagara said that the accusedknew Manjunath as they were in

same business for several years.Katle Manju, the main accused hadan affair with the second wife of thevictim, Deepika. Manjunath had afight with the accused when he gotto know about the extra marital af-fair and this severed as the mainreason for murder.

Manjunath had two wives Saro-jamma was his first wife. Later onhe married Deepika. He had a nine-year-old boy Manu and a seven-year-old girl Monika from hissecond wife. Manjunath would si-multaneously be with both wives.

Katle Manju in his statement topolice said; “I was scared whenManjunath threatened to kill me infront of everyone, so that is the rea-son I planned his death with the

help of the these four members..Also if we killed him, I would get allthe benefits from bus contracts andearn more profits.”

Mr.V.B. Baskar, the investigatingofficer said; “We caught the KatleManju and Kumara at UdayarangaBus Stand. e accused haddumped the murder weapon near apond which is seized now as evi-dence. We also have seized an autowhich was used to flee away by theaccused to aer the murder.

He added that there were two eyewitnesses who gave police theirstatements which helped in inves-tigation. e charge sheet had beingfiled on June 6th, 2013 and the caseis going on in the court. e nexthearing is on November 20th.

Sneha Mejari

A non-governmental organiza-tion filed a writ petition againstthe state of Karnataka on theforthcoming Narendra Modi rallyscheduled for this Sunday.

In the petition, lodged on Novem-ber 6, Dinesh Krishnappa Naik,state general secretary of theHuman Rights and Non – Corrup-tion Committee (HRNCC) has re-quested the state government to nothold the rally within the city limits,as it will lead to traffic issues.

e Bharatiya Janata party organ-izers of the rally have estimated thataround five lakh people will attendthis gathering at Palace Grounds.ree lakh people have registeredonline for the Modi rally.

“ere will be more registrationstill November 16 and it is difficultto say how many more registrationswe will be receiving,” said aspokesperson for the national party.

In 2008, Janata Dal Secular held arally at Palace Grounds whichblocked the roads for eight hours,disturbing the daily lives of the peo-ple in the city.

e residents were upset with thetraffic jams and congestion that wascaused by the rally.

In restrospect to this case, DineshNaik filed public interest litigationin Karnataka High Court to addressthis issue but due to reasons un-known, he retracted the litigation.“I have already filed a request at thehigh court for taking back our pe-tition.

e petitioner was uncooperativeaer the petition was filed,” saidManjunath N.D, advocate for Di-nesh.

However another spokesperson atthe HRNCC denied retracting thepetition.

“In 2005, we had organized a rallyat Palace Grounds which SoniaGandhi and Siddaramaiah had at-tended. It had caused a lot of trafficjams in the city and so our partybegan organizing meetings and ral-lies outside the city since 2005,” saidC.M Lingappa, former MLA ofCongress.

City NGO slapslegal case on BJPShweta Nair

Victim’s body at the crime site

Murdered after brawl over extra-marital affair

A gang of con artists used a babyto steal a box of silver ankletsfrom an unwitting jeweller.

e three men and two womenasked to see anklets then hid abox of the silver chains.

Ramakrishna Shetty, the 75-year-old owner of Sri Sai Jewelersat Bazaar Road in Ramanagra,was conned by the group of 4kgsilver worth Rs. 1,25,000 in the af-ternoon of November 9.

e incident happened ataround 2pm, when his 35-year-old son Suresh had gone away toeat lunch. “ese people enteredour shop on the pretext of buyingjewelry. ey had a child in theirarms.ey made me take out afew samples of anklets. One ofthem engaged me in a conversa-tion while the others hid one ofthe boxes containing anklets intheir clothing,” he said.

Mr. Shetty was the only personin the shop when the robberytook place.. His son and two fe-male attendants had gone on alunch break. “It was only at 5 inthe evening that we realized thata box of anklets was missing. Welooked at the CCTV camera

recordings of the day and con-firmed our doubt,” said Suresh.

Sri Sai Jewelers sells silver orna-ments exclusively and was inau-gurated last month on October 6.“We have filed a complaint atRamnagra Police Station andhope to get those anklets basaidSuresh who worked as an em-ployee in a jewelry shop in Ban-galore before starting his ownventure.

“A case has been filed under Sec-tion 380 of the Indian PenalCode. Since the jewelry shop had

a CCTV camera installed, thethe has been recorded. We haveacquired the footage as major ev-idence. It will also help in recog-

nizing the guilty,” said Naveen, apolice constable at RamanagraTown Police Station.

He believes that the thieves werenot natives of Bangalore or Kar-nataka. “ey hail from theneighboring states. We have con-tacted the police stations ofAndhra Pradesh and Tamil Naduand have briefed them about theincident. We are hoping to arrestthese robbers soon,” he said.

Suresh says robberies like theone in his shop are commonplacein Ramnagra. But he finds doingbusiness in precious metals prof-itable as people never cease to buythem.

“If they want to buy gold or sil-ver, they would do it withoutthinking about the money spent,”he said.

Sneha Bengani

Sri Sai Jewellers, where the robbery took place on November 9

“We have acquired the CCTVfootage as major evidence. Itwill help solve the case. We arehoping to arrest these robberssoon.”

- Naveen, Police Constable,Ramnagra Police Station

Sneak-thieves in silver anklets snatch

e Weekly Observer ursday, November 14, 2013 4

Plastic industries in Kumbal-godu are violating environmen-tal laws and safety measures forworkers.Kumbalgodu is an industrial belt

on the outskirts of Bangalore.Numerous plastic and aluminiumindustries are violating environ-mental laws in this area. ese in-dustries are burning anddumping plastic in the open spaceoutside. ese small industriesmainly use plastic to make dustand this dust is used in manufac-turing pipes and other plastic ma-terials.e employees in these indus-

tries are directly exposed to plas-tic dust. Moreover plastic

contains polymer and phthalateswhich are very harmful. Phtha-lates are not chemically bound tothe plastic polymer and so theycan migrate out. Phthalates areresponsible for lung diseases, andalso diseases like infertility, mis-carriage, premature birth andeven cancer. ese workers areexposed to higher amount of ph-thalates every day, as they do nothave any kind of safety measures,which make them more suscepti-ble to these diseases. Prakash, aworker, said, “We do not use anykind of mask while working.”

Environmentalist Ullash Kumarsaid, “ese plastic industries areall illegal and they are run insmall houses or units. ese in-

dustries burn plastics to makethem finer and mix them withother plastic materials. Burningof plastic is very harmful for thebody as it produces dangerous gaslike dioxin which mixes withblood and is responsible for can-cer.”

Not only plastic but Kumbal-godu even has aluminum indus-try which uses scrapped motorparts and melts them to makealuminum plates which is againused in the motor factories butthey do not use any kind of safetymeasures while working in frontof the fire. According to the work-ers they are not given any kind of

safety kits and so the chances ofaccidents are high. Mr. Ganesh, a manager of one of

the aluminum factories, said, “Aswe have hospitals nearby we donot use any kind of safety kit, andas the plant is situated in theground floor we have very lesschances of any kind of accident.”He also added that, “We do nothave any problem with the envi-ronmentalists.” But Ullash Kumar said, “ese

small aluminum industries meltold scrap materials which pro-duces numerous harmful gaseswhich are again harmful both forbody and environment.”

Seven people died and 40 passen-gers weret seriously injured as aMumbai bound volvo bus caughtfire in Haveri today early morning.

e bus belongs to the Bangalorebased National Travels which had51 passengers on board. It le thecity on Wednesday night, hit theside wall metal railings at around2.30 am near Kunimelli bridge andcaught fire.

Nawaz, 39, who has been workingwith National Travels for the last 20years says this is the first time thatone of their buses has met withsuch an incident.

“We have sent our people to thespot at Haveri to find out moreabout the aermath of the acci-dent. e dead are yet to be identi-fied. It is too early to quote thenumber of Bangaloreans amongthe dead. e dead bodies are yetto be identified,” he said.

A case has been registered inBankapur Police Station at Haveri,a district in North Karnataka. R. S.Desai, Sub Inspector at BankapurPolice Station refused to commenton the case.

Soumya Basu 7 killed as bus catches fire

Dowry death

Industries illegally use dumped plastic harming the environment

No safety kit at toxic plant as ‘hospital nearby’

A 19-year-old newlywed hangedherself four months aer hermarriage fed up of the dowry de-mands by her in-laws.

Vidyashree was married to Na-graj, 25, on July 2, 2013. At thetime of marriage Vidyashree’sfamily had given Nagraj and hisfamily Rs.2, 25,000 and gold.

She hanged herself on October21, 2013 in her husband‘s houseat around 7.30pm.

Her father Shivarna, 40, regis-tered a complaint at Kumbalgudupolice station on October 22.

Following the complaint the po-lice have arrested her husband,mother-in-law, Manch Amma,father-in-law, Venkata and twobrother-in-laws, Kumar andSatish.

NEWS BRIEF

Illegal plants in Kumbalgodo where plastic is converted to dust

Five men kidnapped a cabdriver to know the whereaboutsof a woman involved in chitfunds.

Mahesh, a 25-year-old MaxiCab driver, was allegedly kid-napped from Timber Yard Layoutby a group of five men, aged be-tween 19 and 20 years.

An FIR was registered by his fa-ther in Byatarayanapura PoliceStation.“His father Nagraj hadfiled the FIR on October 23 andon October 25, we found Ma-hesh,” said Lakshman.C, Sub In-spector at the police station.

e kidnappers were caught onOctober 26. “All of them are taxidrivers who wanted to reachBhagyamma, a 45-year-oldwoman who is involved in chit-

fund and supposedly has theirmoney. ey thought that theycould reach her through Maheshand so they kidnapped him,” Lak-shman.C said.

e kidnappers were tracedthrough mobile phones. Whenthe sub inspector was asked howhe managed to rescue Mahesh, herefused to give the details of therescue operation. “I am supposedto file a charge sheet within 90days. e case will go to courtaer two months,” he said.

“ey wanted to reachBhagyamma and so they kid-napped me. I do not know whereshe is,” said Mahesh. Apparentlythe woman has a lot of money ofthe people who were involved inher chit fund schemes and is nowmissing.

When the sub inspector wasasked about the details of the kid-nappers, he said, “I cannot let you

know anything about them untila judgment is passed. ey are yetto be convicted.”

Cabbie rescued after cops trace callsSneha Bengani

Search for Bhagyamma continues as Mahesh returns safe

e Weekly Observer ursday, November 14, 2013

e juvenile justice board man-aged to successfully prevent achild marriage in Ramanagaradistrict on Sunday, November 10.

Bharati (16) and Girish (21) weresupposed to marry on November,10. However the District Child Pro-tection Committee intervened onthe day of the marriage and wassuccessful in stopping it. e com-mittee was informed about themarriage by Revana SiddheshwaraMutt on November, 5.

ey issued a notice to Bharati’sfamily on November 7 and later onNovember 10, they visited the mar-riage hall and stopped the marriage.

According to sources, Bharati wasbeing married against her will asone of her parents was ill.

Rashmi, a counselor at the Dis-trict Child Protection Committeesaid “e boy was from Alasin-ganahalli and the girl from Motta-ganahalli; both of these villages arein Magadi taluk.”

According to the District ChildProtection Committee, there havebeen 31 cases of child marriagesfrom August 2012 till date in Ra-managara district. In Bengalurutoo, the number of child marriagecases reported has almost doubledin the last four years.

From 2009 to 2013, in Bangalore

city, child marriages have increasedfrom four to eight. Gulbarga divi-sion on the other hand, being lessdeveloped than the other divisionshas shown decrease in the trend

e Prohibition of Child MarriageAct, 2006, says that any marriagesolemnized of a female of less than18 years with a male of less than 21years of age would not be a voidmarriage but a voidable one, but ifno steps are taken to stop themthen it becomes a valid marriage.However, boys and girls forced intothe marriage have the option ofcancelling the marriage.

Both the families couldn’t be con-tacted.

Suchitra Sharma

Child labor rampant in the city of silkA minor was rescued from a silkfactory in Ramanagara where hewas found doing menial jobs for aliving.

Shadiq Pasha (12) was working ina silk factory in the city when hewas rescued by the District Protec-tion of Child Rights department onJune 10th, 2013. Shadiq was em-ployed to do menial and hazardousjobs. He was produced before theChild Welfare Committee. AkramPasha, Shadiq’s father, a resident

from Mehboobnagar told theKSPCR, that he couldn’t provide forhis son’s schooling due to poverty.

Akram Pasha wasn’t ready to en-roll Shadiq in a normal school sug-gested by the CWC and insistedthat he admit him in a minority in-stitution.

Shadiq gave wrong information tothe CWC about his parents’ where-abouts. But aer being counseledby a case worker he told them theright address of his house. He alsotold them that he liked the job;

therefore he went to the factory.He was never sent to a school

whereas his sister, Shafia (10) wasstudying in 5th grade.

Another fieen-year-old girl wasrecently rescued from a silk factoryby the District Child ProtectionCommittee.

Rashmi, case worker, DistrictChild Protection Committee said:“e children do some menial jobs.Some of them are hazardous in na-ture as well. e kids have to stir thesilk cocoons in boiling water andalso collect the worms. e dark-ness, the congested space and thetemperature is harmful for the chil-dren.”

She also said that there are chil-dren from rural as well as urbanareas. Weaker economic conditionshave prompted them to take this.She said that women bring theirnew-born and toddlers to the fac-tory where they work and that toois dangerous. Pregnant women toowork in these places.

e district labor commissioner’ssurvey provided the statistics. erewere 12 cases of child labor of haz-ardous nature reported in the year2013-14, the number of cases in theyear 2012-13 was 58, including 39cases of hazardous nature and 208

cases in the year 2011-12, both haz-ardous and non-hazardous. efine collected over the four yearsamounts to Rs. 2,75,000.

e rescued children includethose who have never received anyformal education.

ose kids are sent to a centreowned by the CWC where they un-dergo training in non-formal edu-cation for 18 months. Others aresent to mainstream schools.

e children are also sent to Bal-akera Bala Mandira and BalakaraBala Mandira in Bengaluru andMysore for their education.

Vaishnavi J.Desai

5

Two twelve-year-olds were res-cued last month from a garage anda brick factory by RamanagaraLabour Department.

Dinesh B R, project director forchild labour said “We were in-formed about Sakalain Ustad andChiranjeevi by a governmentschool teacher and we immedi-ately rescued them and have fileda case against the automobilegarage and brick factory.”

Sakalain Ustad, said: “I wasworking in Mohammed Nahimauto garage to support my family.Iwas rescued by the child labor de-partment and have been enrolledto the government school.”

Chiranjeevi, 12yrs said: “Iworked for the SBT brick factoryto earn money. My family couldnot support my education butaer the help from child labor de-partment I can afford to go to theschool.”

“I was happy and as an educatedcitizen it is my responsibility to re-port child labor and help the chil-dren” said Meena Devi, a schoolteacher who spotted the children.

Minors rescuedfrom child laborShivpriya Jodha

Children working at a silk factory in Ramanagara

A minor rescued from factory

e wedding card of Bharati and Girish

Child marriage halted at the eleventh hour

e Weekly Observer ursday, November 14, 2013 6

Observer Team: Editor - Sushmita Sen Chief Sub Editor - Vaishnavi J. Desai News Editors - Shweta Nair, Shivpriya Jodha, Raju Peethala, Sneha Mejari Sub Editors - Soumya Basu, Sureshkumar,Rahul Sadhu, Tulana Nayak Picture Editor - Prutha Subhash Bhosle Design Desk - Suchitra Sharma Proof Readers - Tanisha Das, Sreelakshmy Sivaram Reporters - Sneha Ghosh, SaikatGhosh Social and Emergency Services - Sneha Bengani Email- editor@iijnm.org An IIJNM Publication (For Private Circulation)

Events

Centerstage`s Film Acting Work-shop by Film makers Saad Khan &Siddhanth Sundar. e Workshopwill focus on important actingtenets, building a character frominception to realization.

Fee: Rs. 4500 per personFrom November 16, 4:30 pm on-

wardsVenue - Alliance Francaise de

Bangalore, Vasanthnagar

Girish and the Chronicles who willbe playing their first ScoreNight onNovember 15. ey are creditedwith bringing out a new voice to thequintessential Rock n Roll genre.e first 50 early bird tickets are forRs. 200. Venue - Bak Bak Bar, KoramangalaFriday, November 15, 9:00 PM On-wards

‘Tughlaq’ is a thirteen-scene playabout the turbulent rule of Moham-mad Bin Tughlaq by Girish Karnad.

Tickets: Rs. 100Venue - Ranga Shankara, JP

NagarOn November 14 and 15, from

7:30 pm onwards

A ray of hope after a bleak pastSuchitra struggles hard to pro-nounce the word ‘factory’ whenasked where her mother works.Just four, at an age when she isstill learning to speak, she doesnot know her parents.

Her father is dead and she does-n’t even remember her mother’sname.

Two years ago, her mother leher at the Sneha Jyothi OrphanChildren’s Home (SJOCH) be-cause she could not manage theexpenses all alone.

On National Children’s Day, thestory is the same for millionsacross the country.

Being a labourer at a factory, shedidn’t earn enough to raise twochildren and was forced to leavethem at the orphanage.

Located on the outskirts of Ban-galore and surrounded by lushgreen mulberry farms, SnehaJyothi Orphan Children’s Home,in aghachikuppe, runs on min-imum donations .

T.G. Murthy, Founder of SnehaJyothi Orphan Children’s Home,laid its foundation in 2010. e

orphanage is now home to 30homeless children.

In the initial years, the orphan-age received sufficient fundingbut lately the money has dried up.

He said, “I know what it feelslike to be without a parent. I lost

my father at a very early age so Iwanted to help children like me.”Samarthanam Disabled Trust inJ.P. Nagar was an inspiration forhim.

e children now have a homelyenvironment and psychologicalrelief from their gloomy past.Most of them are not even or-phans; they are semi-orphans asMr. Murthy said.

Neha and Rehan, who are sib-lings, were brought to the or-phanage on November 10, 2013.

eir parents are divorced nowand their mother is not in a posi-tion to take care of them. She wasforced to send them off to the or-phanage.

e irony lies in the fact thatmost of the children don’t evenknow the truth about their fami-lies or why they have beenbrought here.

Some of them have been com-forted saying they were sent herefor studies.

Mr Murthy said that the parentsdon’t have a choice; they have totell a lie so that parting becomeseasy for the children.

Nine-year-old Rehan said, “Mymother told that I was sent herefor my studies.” But in reality, it

was extreme poverty that com-pelled Rehan and Neha’s motherto part with her children, said Te-jaswini, the eldest of all of thechildren.

Rehan has even been told by hismother that his father is dead.

Tejaswini, who is now 13, wasbrought to the orphanage threeyears ago along with her nine-year-old brother Revanna.

eir father was an alcoholicand was untraceable for a longtime while the mother was too illto look aer them. Seeing thefamily’s condition, an acquain-tance brought them to the chil-dren’s home.

Sarasamma, 70, mother of Mr.Murthy, cooks for the childrenand Tejaswini helps her.Sarasamma said, “She helps me inthe kitchen but she is yet to learn.”Arasu, 8, and Yogesh, 12, said thatthey like the food that Tejaswinimakes and they consider her oneof their caretakers apart from T.G.Murthy, Sarasamma and Sashi(caretaker at the orphanage).

Another child, Manjunath, 10,was brought to the orphanageaer the death of his parents.

ey had had a love marriagebut Manjunath’s maternal uncle

murdered his father. Unable to re-sist the shock, Manjunath’smother consumed poison.

Manja, as the members in theorphanage call him, was a beggar.Even his uncle abandoned him. Amember from the orphanagebrought him here.

Prashant, 11, was sold to acrook in Bombay who boughthim for Rs 1000 to sell his eyes.Father Prem Kumar, who is an ac-quaintance of T.G.Murthy, res-cued and sent him to the branchof SJOCH at Bidadi.

All the children go to a-gachikuppe Government School.Apart from this, the orphanagealso teaches them extracurricularactivities.

ey are taught semi-classicalforms of dance by a teacher fromUdupi and Karate by Mr.Murthy’s son, T.M. David who isa Black belt.

Tejaswini said, “We are taken tothe Primary Health Centre inKumbalgudu for check up everyweek and sometimes even thedoctor comes here to see us”

ere is little that most of the 30children here recall about theirpast lives. What matters now istheir present.

Tulana Nayak

Children at Sneha Jyothi Orphan Children’s Home, abandoned by their parents, rescued by SJOCH

Murthy, Founder of SJOCH

Music

Workshop

eater