Impact: Bear man in jail, govt to look after girl

LAWLESSNESS? The authorities arrested Munda leaving his five-year-old child to fend for herself.

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New Delhi: A day after CNN-IBN aired a story of a labourer being jailed without any kind of provision for his five-year-old daughter who is now home alone, authorities have stepped in to look after the child.

Orissa Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik, has promised all help.

"The legal aspects are being looked into, but the district administration of Keonjhar is doing everything to look after the welfare of Munda's daughter" Patnaik said.

Trouble started for 35-year-old Ram Singh Munda after he found a three-day old bear cub abandoned in the forest and brought it to his home. his daughter, five-year-old Golki, fell in love with the cub. Father and daughter named the cub Rani and made her a part of their family. That was more than a year ago.

Munda landed in trouble when a local newspaper published a story on Rani and her human family. Forest Department authorities ordered Munda to leave the bear back in the jungle. Munda obeyed but Rani returned to his house the very next day.

The Forest Department then forcibly took Rani away and handed her over to the Nandankanan Zoo near Bhubaneswar. Munda was arrested and sent to Keonjhar jail for violating the Wildlife Protection Act, which forbids people from keeping wild animals.

Munda's daughter was left alone, her mother having died a few years ago.