Parents come forward to claim Indian ‘Mowgli girl’ found living with monkeys is their disabled daughter who disappeared from a market last year
A MUM and dad claim a young girl dubbed "Mowgli" who was found living with monkeys in an Indian forest is their daughter who went missing from a marketplace a year ago.
Cops found the girl, who is believed to be eight, with three monkeys in a wildlife sanctuary in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
Now Ramzan Ali Shah, 45, and his wife Nazma, 35, claim she went missing as they were shopping in March last year.
Ramzan told : "The joy of knowing she's alive cannot be expressed in words. I feel so blessed to know we could get her back."
The labourer, from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh, said her name is Aliza, she is actually 10 and has mental health problems.
He added: "We got busy buying some medicines for a few seconds and she suddenly vanished."
The family reported the disappearance to cops but he said they refused to help.
They visited their 'daughter' in a rehab centre and Ramzan says he cried as she stared at him, adding that this is a "normal reaction" for her.
He now faces a DNA test before the authorities will release her to his care.
Last week a man called Bhullan Ali claimed the eight-year-old girl is his niece and went missing from her home in Jaunpur’s Kamalpur village in March 2016, reported.
It is not known if he is related to Ramzan and Nazma.
Earlier reports suggested the girl had been abandoned by her parents and had allegedly been raised by a colony of monkeys in the jungles of Katerniaghat.
But now officials said it is impossible the child was raised by monkeys for years in a sanctuary which is visited by thousands of people.
The young girl, who has now been named Ehasas, has since been taken in a rehabilitation centre where she is showing considerable improvement in her health, officials said.
She is being treated for having low haemoglobin.
The hospital refused to hand over Ehasas to Ali until he could prove he is the girl's uncle
President of the NGO that runs the hospital SS Dhapolo told The Indian Express: “The girl did not respond even a bit on seeing him.
"If she can start responding to me in just one day, she should react in some manner on seeing her uncle with whom she has lived for eight years.
"He also did not bring the missing girl’s parents, nor was he carrying any picture of her with family members. We have asked him to come with substantive proof.
"We will not give her to anyone without a DNA test to confirm their claim.”
Indian officials initially believed the eight-year-old was left in the woods because of her physical and mental disabilities in a heartbreaking story of neglect.
Local official JP Singh told : "I think the family members of this girl had been aware that she is not able to speak, and they may have abandoned her near the forest road.
"If she was living with monkeys it would have been for a few days only, not for a long time."
And one local women's right campaigner says the fact she was a girl would have played heavily into the decision to abandon her.
Dr Ranjana Kumari added: "The truth of the matter is her family didn’t want to look after her.
"Some families value girls less than boys. They would rather get rid of the girl than spend money on her."
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The young girl was found living with a troop of monkeys and is unable to speak or walk like a human.
She screeches to communicate and walks on all fours, and is said to be terrified of humans, after she was rescued by cops in Bahraich, India.
She was discovered by sub-inspector Suresh Yadav while on routine patrol in Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, close to the Nepal border, reports the .
It is not known how long she has been living with the animals, but she was reportedly fully clothed when discovered.
The story strikes incredible similarities with The Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling's famous tale of young human boy Mowgli who is raised by wolves.
When Yadav tried to rescue the girl, who seemed comfortable living with the monkeys, she and the animals screeched at him.
After much difficulty, cops were able to rescue the girl and she was taken to hospital, reports .
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She cannot speak or understand any language, and gets scared at the sight of human beings.
Doctors treating her said she often gets violent.
She has reportedly made slow improvements since being rescued two months ago.
The girl has been trained to walk on her legs, but at times still walks like a monkey, using her hands and legs together.
It comes after contestants in a reality TV show spent a year living in the wild completely cut-off from the rest of society.
But the group returned home to discover the programme was CANCELLED last summer.
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