Abused and deserted, homeless try to find a meaning to life

Prime age group of homeless women who have taken to shelter homes in the city stands between 26 years and 35 years

Prior to arriving at a shelter for homeless women in Delhi’s Karol Bagh, Anita Gangwar worked as a teacher in Bareilly. Anxiously picking her nails, Ms. Gangwar said that a string of disputes at work and within her family led to a severe mental breakdown after which she fled to Delhi where she was rescued from the streets in 2019.

At a recovery shelter for women in the city’s Kabir Basti, 65-year-old Munish Rani struggles to settle in the space as she fondly recalls her daughter. “I don’t live with her because her husband’s family has a problem with me. I moved to this shelter close to four months ago. This was after my eyesight weakened and the hospital authorities referred me here because I had no one to take care of me,” she lamented.