Mumbai, Oct 27(Mid-day): A mother and her eight-month-old baby were found on the rail tracks at Vidyavihar; their family managed to find the duo by posting their images on WhatsApp and Facebook
A mother-daughter duo from Mulund was rushed to Rajawadi Hospital late night on Sunday. They had been found on the tracks of Vidyavihar station, with the mother severely injured and bleeding.
Government Railway Police (GRP) were guided to Monica Vaity (21) and her eight-month-old daughter Kavya through the screams of the baby who was still conscious after the ordeal.
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While Monica, who was later shifted to KEM Hospital for treatment of her head injuries is in the ICU, the Vaity family, which was till Monday afternoon unaware of the whereabouts of the duo, managed to find them with the help of social media.
Immediate help
The incident took place late night on Sunday, when the GRP of Kurla station, posted at Vidyavihar, were on patrolling duty. The constables apparently heard a baby crying near the tracks and suspected that it could be the cries of a passenger carrying a baby, attempting to cross the tracks.
However, when the constables looked closely, they found the duo, lying near the tracks and immediately informed the stationmaster as well as the Kurla GRP about the incident. Both Monica and Kavya were rushed to Rajawadi Hospital.
The identity of both the mother and the daughter remained a mystery, as there was no proof of identity on them. They were admitted as unknown patients and were rushed to the casualty ward of Rajawadi Hospital for treatment.
While Monica had suffered a severe head injury, Kavya surprisingly sustained only a minor injury on the left side of her head and was stable. Sources confirmed that Monica couldn’t be shifted to any tertiary care hospital since there were no ventilators available at Sion or Nair hospitals.
“We eventually requested KEM Hospital to give us a ventilator bed since Monica’s condition was critical. And fortunately, they immediately informed us that they do have a ventilator bed available at the hospital, after which we started the shifting procedure,” said a treating doctor at Rajawadi Hospital.
Social media works
Meanwhile, the Vaity family, which had no clue of the whereabouts of the duo, started panicking after both of them didn’t return home overnight.
They eventually took to social media, hoping to get some help before filing a missing person complaint at a local police station. One of their relatives posted the pictures of Monica and Kavya on Facebook and circulated a message on WhatsApp, requesting people to inform the family if they had seen them.
A personal assistant of a local politician came across the picture and called the family to inform them that two patients meeting the description were admitted in Rajawadi Hospital at night.
“We received a call at around 11.30 am on Monday about my wife and daughter. The man also sent me a picture of my wife in the hospital and informed me that they are at Rajawadi. We heaved a sigh of relief that we could finally locate them, but the state of my wife is worrying me at this hour,” said Nikhil Vaity, Monica’s husband, who works as a driver.
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A family member said that Monica had left home after a domestic feud and they had no idea how the incident took place. “She (Monica) is short-tempered and it was a minor household argument with her husband after which she stormed out of the house. We cannot discount the possibility that she might have jumped out of a train also,” said a family member, on condition of anonymity.
Dr Vidya Thakur, medical superintendent of Rajawadi Hospital said, “We stabilised Monica’s condition since she had suffered a head injury and there was blood loss. Hence after keeping her overnight in the ICU, we shifted her to KEM Hospital this afternoon for further treatment. The child has sustained minor injuries, she is being treated in the paediatric ward of the hospital.”