help

[teddydaniels]

HYDERABAD: Marella Lakshmi Prasanna (39) looks shattered and is unable to digest the fact that her husband has abandoned her. With nowhere to go and no body to turn to, Lakshmi Prasanna and her two kids stare at an uncertain future. The woman has taken refuge at an old age home in Vikalangula Colony near Balaji Nagar at Jawaharnagar on the outskirts of the city, along with her kids, and the three lead the life of refugees after husband fled with their US passports.

Till a year ago, she had a job in the food service department of Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District and her children -- Hemanthi (13) and Sainath (7) -- attended school at Houston, Texas in the US. They had been settled in the US for the last 16 years.

Life, however, took a dramatic turn when her husband Babu Prasad, who brought them to Hyderabad on the pretext of his mother’s illness, fled with their passports. Lakshmi Prasanna has been running from pillar to post for nearly 10 months seeking help.

In December last year, an FIR was registered against Babu Prasad at Jawaharnagar police station on the charge of harassment. As there was no reply, she approached the State Human Rights Commission as well as State Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

“All we want is our passports so that we can go back. I will find a job there and my children will get good education. We have no one here and are left to die,” rued Prasanna, a native of Nellore.

It all began in June last year when they came to Hyderabad. They were scheduled to return by end of month but her husband wanted them to settle down here.

“My children and I went back there but he begged us to come back. After we came back, he took away the passport of my children and we could not go,” she said.

After Lakshmi Prasanna lodged a police complaint, Babu Prasad took an anticipatory bail. “Later, he gave in writing at the police station that he misplaced the passports,” she added. According to her, the couple applied for new passports. “Though new passports were issued in 15 days, he took them and left. He put me under house arrest and later threw me out when I revolted,” she lamented.

[1Nenokkadine]