An Indian woman who was adopted by an American family back in 2018 when she was 14 seeks help to return to India, alleges torture in US.
A 21-year-old woman identified as Puja alias Sejal has released a video seeking the help of the Indian government to go back to her state Odisha, where she was born. Her video alleging torture by her foster mother has gone viral. According to reports, her visa expired in 2023 and she has no legal protection in the country. The woman was adopted in 2018 when she was a 14-year-old girl. In the video, she said she attended a school in Odisha and she used to like it in India. “I was staying and studying at a hostel in Bhubaneswar and was very happy. Since I came to America, I am not happy at all. My foster mother forces me to do a lot of household work after I return from school,” the woman said, adding that her foster parents also attempted to kill her in the US. “I am a Hindu but my foster mother is forcing me to change my faith,” she said. The woman claimed that she had earned Rs 10 lakh by working during her holidays but her foster mother took away all her money, leaving her no path to return to India on her own, now that she is an adult. “I humbly request the Odisha Chief Minister to bring me back home. I am tortured a lot here. I want to return to Odisha and find my real parents,” she said. The identity of her foster parents is not known, though a photo of them is doing the rounds on social media. Reports claimed that Puja went missing on a train when she was child and was rescued by an NGO.
