Sister S.M. Cyril: Gentle benefactor. A Telegraph picture

Little Maria (name changed) has a new home, where she will learn and play and grow up under the watchful eyes of a caring nun.

Sister S.M. Cyril, the principal of Loreto Day School, on Friday took responsibility of the seven-year-old, whose mother, deaf and mute, had been raped by a gang of policemen in a prison van.

“I came to know that the child’s grandfather, with whom she and her mother was living, is poor. He cannot afford to send her to school. No child should be deprived of education for her/his background. Maria will live with us on our school premises and will get proper care and education,” said Sister Cyril.

Dressed in an off-white frock, Maria looked cheerful as she walked into the school compound with her mother and grandfather to a warm welcome from the students.

“I want to stay here,” she said, as Sister Cyril gifted her a stuffed toy. She will join the home on April 25.

Since Maria hasn’t been to school before, she will first learn the alphabets at Loreto’s junior school meant for destitute children.

“Our target is to make her eligible to be admitted to Class II of our main English-medium school by January 2009,” said Sister Cyril.

The state women’s commission had recently taken an initiative to rehabilitate the child and her mother. Commission officials met representatives of various NGOs last Tuesday to decide on the roadmap.

Sister Cyril, who attended the meeting, offered to raise the child.

As for the mother, the social welfare department is providing her with a monthly grant of Rs 850. “The mother is only partly deaf. We will consult doctors to find out whether the disability can be cured,” said Sister Cyril.