Abandoned 70-yr-old walks 13km, rescued by rly staff
Leelawati Kedarnath Dubey, a 70-year-old resident of Delhi’s Mayur Vihar, walked 13 kilometres from Mumbai’s Mahul Gaon to Bandra Terminus on Saturday after being abandoned by her son Dinesh Kumar Dubey.
Leelawati arrived in the city at the beginning of the lockdown to look after her son who was not keeping well. Her son, who is an autorickshaw driver, gained his health and started abusing and hitting her, asking her to leave the house. “I used to pay my son for the food I ate. He abused me and even used to hit me. For three months he constantly asked me to leave the house and then kicked me out,” said Leelawati.
After being abandoned by her son and daughter-in-law, she walked from Mahul to Bandra Terminus. Leelawati did not have any money and survived on biscuits, rice and water provided by relief workers outside the terminus. “I walked all the way. I had no option and I did not know where to go. I had no money. I was very hungry and thirsty. A truck driver gave me with some biscuits and water,” said Leelawati.
A video from news portal Mojo of Leelawati’s ordeal went viral following which senior railway officials were alerted about her sitting outside the terminus.
Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) official and senior divisional railway officer Suhani Mishra of Western Railway along with her team of sub-inspector of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) Jeetendra Jat approached Leelawati. Leelawati was then taken to the waiting room of Bandra Terminus and provided with food and shelter on Saturday night.
Mishra also booked her a confirmed AC train ticket to Delhi for Sunday evening. The train will leave from Mumbai Central railway station on Sunday evening and reach Delhi on Monday. “Her voice was depicting the humiliation she went through,” said Mishra.
Railway officials also assured to take her to her home in Delhi.
Leelawati was all praise for the Western Railway staff. “The railway officials are now my family,” she said.