After having praised Delhi Police for restoring their daughter to them, three-year-old Jahnvi Ahuja’s parents on Tuesday accused Delhi Police of not doing “anything” in the first few days after their three-year-old girl went missing from India Gate on September 28. Delhi Police became “active” only towards the end following which she was found on Sunday. The family, however, acknowledged the fact that the assurance given to them by police on Saturday that the girl will be reunited with them within two days was fulfilled.
“They (police) did not do much at that time... In the first three/four days they did not do anything but they became very active in the last days and deployed their teams to locate the child. Initially when we asked them to let us protest at India Gate, they did not let us and then packed us off to Jantar Mantar and assured us that they would find out the girl in two days and that is what happened,” said Sheetal Ahuja, Jahnvi’s mother.
Asked whether the girl revealed anything about her abductors after returning, she said, “She did not speak much, we could only understand that there was a couple who spoke to her, identified themselves as her parents and took her in a car.” Describing the incident, Sheetal said that they had gone to India Gate with other family members. “While returning, our daughter just got picked up in five minutes... We did not realise when and how it happened. We are now afraid of stepping outside with her,” she said.
The family also acknowledged the fact that the hype created by media and their campaign on social media played a big part in Jahnvi’s safe return. According to Jatin Kakkar, Sheetal Ahuja’s brother who was at the forefront of the social media campaign on Facebook and WhatsApp, it was possible because of the networking that they created on Facebook and WhatsApp and with the cooperation of police.
“It is not that they did not work at all, but they got activated in the last few days. It took us an entire night to lodge an FIR. We tried to find her everywhere — even in dustbins — but then we realised that it won’t do. It was then that I decided to contact one of my friends, who runs an NGO named Salaam Zindagi in Chandigarh. We created a page Bring Back Jahnvi, which has now more than 50,000 followers. I think it was due to this that we got our child back,” he said.
The girl had gone missing from near India Gate on September 28. The incident had garnered massive hype with her photos going viral on social media. Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi, had announced a cash reward of Rs 50,000 for anybody who could have helped to trace her on Sunday. The girl was found alone with her head shorn in lajwanti Garden sabzi mandi area on Sunday at 8 pm with a placard around her neck bearing her ID.