‘Mowgli girl needs psychological evaluation’
The 10-year-old child, who became famous as Mowgli girl after being found in the Katarniaghat forest range in Bahraich over two months ago, needs psychiatric evaluation and treatment, doctors treating her here have said.
She was admitted to Bahraich district hospital on January 25. She is now under observation on bed number 2 of the isolation ward.“The girl might have been left in the jungle by her parents owing to her mental status. But it was probably not long before a Dial 100 team found her. Being brought up among monkeys seems absurd,” said Dr KK Verma, the hospital’s paediatrician.
Sarbajeet Yadav, the head constable who first spotted the girl, said, “She was found near Khapda forest outpost around seven in the evening with just innerwear on. But there were no monkeys around. She refused to come with us initially, but the cold weather and, perhaps hunger, made her agree.”
Divisional forest officer Gyan Praksh Singh said, “It’s not possible that a girl spends years in forest and no staff or hundreds of cameras (installed for security and animal census) notice her.” “She might have been dropped here sometime before being spotted by the patrol team.”
AVOIDING PEOPLE
As people come in droves to see the girl in hospital, she tries to hide beneath her bed to avoid them. Now named ‘Van Durga’, the girl reluctantly follows instructions of the hospital’s matron M Bhalla and sanitation worker Renu, who have been with her since her first day in hospital. She mostly eats fruits and chapattis, which served in the hospital to patients. She also likes the biscuits offered by attendants of other patients in the isolation ward. She enjoys to walk a while with Renu.
“Her wounds have healed. No medication is being given now.
In these two months, she has also learned to mumble a bit when hungry. Often, she throws away a glass as an indication that she needs to drink water,” said Renu. When the girl was admitted to hospital, she could not differentiate between food and excreta and ended up eating her excreta. But now she gives signals to demand food. In the initial days, she did not use her hands and directly ate from her mouth after spreading the food on the floor. She uses her hands now. The girl was aware of the toilet manners too, Renu added.
The girl, who was unable to stand on day one of hospitalisation, now insists on walking on her own from the corridor to her bed. CMS Dr DK Singh said there was no need for her to remain in this hospital now “but she needs psychiatric evaluation and treatment.”
WHY SHE WAS NAMEDTHE MOWGLI GIRL
After the patrol team found her in the forest, they took her to the primary health centre in Mihinpurwa and then to the district hospital. She was so frightened at the hospital that when the medical staff approached her, she screamed in a monkey’s voice. She also ate food by mouth directly. “It’s possible that she might have seen monkeys screaming and eating during her stay in the forest and she imitated this, as any other child of her age will do,” said Dr DK Singh.
WHAT EXPERTS SAY
Experts say the child needs evaluation for behaviour, communication and intelligence assessment. This will help determine her mental status and whether she was tortured to behave like this. “Cognition must have developed in a child of this age. But she needs care as a neonate (newborn) to be trained like a very small child. Involvement with other children of the same age group can help her,” said Pooja Mahour, assistant professor in child psychology, department of psychiatry at the King George’s Medical University.
WHAT NEXT
The girl will be taken to Lucknow for psychiatric evaluation and treatment in accordance with a juvenile court order.