Mumbai (CNN) – Just a few weeks ago, a young boy tied to a bus stop in Mumbai barely received a glance from passersby oblivious to his plight.
Deaf and mute, nine-year-old Lakhan was regularly tied to a pole by his elderly grandmother for fear he would run into traffic on a nearby road while she was away at work.
Now, grandmother and grandson are living in a home for deaf and mute children, the patch of pavement where they both lived swapped for a roof above their heads.
After reading about Lakhan on CNN in June, people wrote, tweeted, messaged, called and emailed from around the world.
Many wrote to express their concern. Some wrote to ask how they could help. Others sent funds to help rehabilitate Lakhan. One person started a Facebook page to raise awareness about his plight.
The response was overwhelming.
“I was under the impression — ‘who cares for such stories?’” said Meena Mutha, a social worker with theManav Foundation. She’d been trying to find Lakhan a more suitable home since placing him in a government-run shelter for juveniles in June.
It was better than the street but not suitable for a boy with cerebral palsy who needed dedicated care.
Mutha took on Lakhan’s case in late May when a constable called her after seeing the boy’s photo in a local newspaper. Lakhan was tied to a pole with rags and his elderly grandmother, Sakubai, was obviously struggling to take care of him as well as herself.
“He is deaf so he would not be able to hear traffic coming. If he ran onto the road, he’d get killed,” Sakubai told CNN in June. “See, it’s a long rope,” she said, holding out a piece of frayed cloth. There were many similar pieces of cloth tied to different poles.
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