Viral story Mowgli girl a media hoax? Police says she was found in January, fully clothed, no monkeys

The viral story of the feral child, or known as Mowgli girl, could be nothing but a media hoax. According to local police, the 11-year-old was not found naked or surrounded by monkeys as is being reported in media. 

As the story of a “Mowgli girl” being found in the jungles of Katerniaghat near Bahraich spreads, Head Constable Sarvajeet Yadav says the 11-year-old he rescued two and a half months ago has no resemblance to what is being reported by the media.

The girl, who was at the Bahraich district hospital for a long time after that, was on Saturday shifted to Lucknow’s Nirvan Hospital for the mentally challenged. 

A report in Indian Express quotes Yadav saying that the girl was rescued by him and his two other colleagues on January 24 after a call about abandaoned child. 

“Part of a three-member patrol team attached to the Motipur police station, Yadav and his colleagues had rushed to the road connecting Bahraich to Lakhimpur on the evening of January 24, following a call on the Dial 100 emergency helpline about the girl. 

“She was moving around on her haunches. She was wearing a frock and kachchha (knickers). She was very weak and tried to move away on seeing us… There were no monkeys. She was not naked, and she wasn’t using her hands to walk. I don’t know how these stories are being spread.”

The media reports on her, term her as Mowgli girl, while claiming that she had been “living with monkeys in Katerniaghat jungle for months” and was naked when rescued. Some reports also suggest that policemen had to fight off monkeys surrounding her.

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Earlier, Chief Medical Officer DK Singh was quoted as saying by ANI that the girl was found two months back, and eats and walks like animals, and runs away on seeing humans. “She has marks on her skin, looks like she has lived with animals for quite some time. Now she is better and healthy, and is showing improvement,” he had added further.