Kodagu: A 9-year-old girl from Kodagu made an emotional appeal to the local police to find the missing mobile phone of her mother who died of COVID-19 since it contained photos and memories of her mother.
The child’s letter is now going viral on social media, with everyone appealing police to take swift action.
Hritiksha, a Class 4 student who resides in Kushalnagar area, wrote in the letter that her family of three tested positive for COVID-19 recently and were under home quarantine for a few days. Later, when her mother’s health deteriorated, she was admitted into Madikeri COVID-19 hospital.
She further wrote, “My father is a daily wage worker and we were able to survive these days with the help of neighbours. But my mother passed away on May 16 and at that time, someone took my mother’s mobile phone which was with her. I have lost my mother and become an orphan. I have several memories of my mother on that phone. I request, whoever has taken the phone or finds it, to please return it…”
The letter addressed to the deputy commissioner of Kodagu, the local MLA and the staff of the hospital, made everyone emotional.
In a report by Indian Express, Hrithiksha’s father, Naveenkumar TR was quoted as saying: “My wife, T K Prabha died suffering from COVID-19 on May 16 and when her other belongings were handed over to us promptly, her mobile phone had been missing. We tried calling that number several times but the phone is switched off.” He has further filed a complaint at Kushalnagar police station, for the missing phone, which is said to be a Samsung Galaxy J 2 Core device.
“Hrithiksha even attended online classes using her mother’s phone. I feel helpless now as neither finding the phone nor buying her a new phone looks possible,” he said.
Meanwhile, as the child’s request went viral on social media, netizens helped the request amplify.
To a tweet, Karnataka DG&IGP Praveen Sood replied, “Our team is on the job. But too many people claiming or working on it does not help the cause. We will do our best to trace.”
At the same time, Kodagu police confirmed that they were coordinating with the hospital authorities to find the phone. “We are also using all facilities to trace the phone as soon as possible and have alerted other stations in the district as well.
Meanwhile, a team of volunteers from the local Indian Youth Congress (IYC) office met the family to hand over a new phone to Hrithiksha.