VARANASI, India – The two-year-old girl who was found alone on a street in a northern India city was returned to her parents after a court ordered that they be released from the psychiatric ward they were being held in.
Saved by Tourist
Israeli toddler abandoned in India / Neta Sela
2-year-old found alone in Varanasi after her parents were detained by local police three days ago. Child being cared for by Israeli tourist
The girl, who holds both Israeli and Finnish citizenship, was found by locals on a street in Varanasi and was cared for by Zohar Matalon, an Israeli tourist.
Matalon, along with the toddler's grandfather, drove from the courtroom to the psychiatric hospital, where the parents were reunited with their daughter.
The parents and the girl are expected to leave for Israel in the next 24 hours.
An Israeli tourist witnessed the incident in which the girl was abandoned: "I saw the girl's father in a state of psychosis. He was standing on a boat and began screaming. A local newspaper said the parents tried to throw the girl into the river, but this is not true. They did try to dump all of their suitcases in the water, and they threw away their documents and money on the floor of the temple.
"I only saw the two red passports of the girl and the mother. I assumed they were French, but then an Italian man told me that the guy who was going crazy was Israeli," she recounted.
According to other witnesses, the parents apparently ate Datura plant seeds, which cause hallucinations and psychotic behavior.
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