Indian Consulate Offers To Fly Home Hyderabad Woman Starving On US Streets

The Consulate General of India in US's Chicago on Saturday offered medical and travel assistance to the Hyderabad woman, who was found starving on the streets last week, and said she is "fit".

"Happy that we could contact Ms Syeda Zaidi and offered help, including medical assistance and travel to India. She is fit and has spoken to her mother in India. She is yet to respond to our offer of support to return to India. We stand ready to extend to her all assistance," the consulate said in a tweet. 

A week earlier, Syeda Lulu Minhaj Zaidi, who went to the US to pursue a master's degree, was found starving on the streets of Chicago. Further probe revealed that all her belongings had been stolen and that she was depressed.

Her condition was brought to the fore by Amjed Ullah Khan, a spokesperson of the Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT) - a party based in Telangana.

After she was spotted on the streets, her mother Syeda Wahaj Fatima wrote to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and urged him to "immediately interfere" and bring her daughter back "as soon as possible."

"This is to state that my daughter Syeda Lulu Minhaj Zaidi went to pursue her Master's in Information Science from TRINE University, Detroit, USA in Aug 2021... She was in touch with us. For the last two months, she was not in touch with me and recently, through two Hyderabadi youths we came to know that my daughter is in deep depression and all her belongings had been stolen due to which she is on the verge of starvation and is being seen on the roads of Chicago," the letter read.

"It is requested to kindly ask the Embassy of India, Washington DC, USA, and the Indian Consulate in Chicago, USA to immediately interfere and bring back my daughter as soon as possible to India. Necessary action taken in this regard may be informed," she added.

An MBT spokesman said that they had appealed to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to facilitate her return to India. "After my tweet, I received a reply from the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Consulate in Chicago that she is not in a condition to travel immediately."

"We are trying to send her parents to Chicago to take care of her. The parents do not have passports. We have appealed to IT Minister KTR (Telangana) to help them get passports and visas from the US Consulate in Hyderabad. Many individuals and organisations have come forward for their trip to the US," he said.

"We also got a quick response from the government. We thank S Jaishankar, and Indian Consulate in Chicago, and also all the organisations that have come forward to help them," Mr Khan added.

"Ms Syeda Lulu Minhaj Zaidi from Hyderabad went to pursue MS from TRINE University, Detroit was found in a very bad condition in Chicago, IL. Her mother has appealed to Dr S Jaishankar to bring back her daughter. Would appreciate immediate help," the MBT spokesperson had earlier tweeted.