US: Hyderabad woman found starving on Chicago streets; mother seeks EAM's help

A young woman from Hyderabad has been found loitering on the streets of Chicago, visibly depressed and malnourished. The woman named Syeda Lulu Minhaj Zaidi had gone to the United States, a favourite destination of every Indian student aspiring to make it big in life, to enroll in a master’s study programme.

The whereabouts of Zaidi came to be known when a Good Samaritan asked her who she was and how she landed there before offering her food and shot a video of his interaction with her.

In the video, the young woman looks lost, emaciated and is not able to recollect her name initially. She is asking the man to bring her some dish made of spinach or curd to eat. She is also referring to her medical condition and says when she had bleeding, an Afghan in Ohio helped her. The man assures her that he would arrange to send her back home to India. She is somewhat scared at the proposal and wonders if she doesn’t go would she be killed?

Also read: Number of Indian students in US rose in 2022, those from China declined: Report

Zaidi, a resident of Telangana, reportedly found herself in this heart-wrenching situation after all her belongings were stolen. After her mother Syeda Wahaj Fatima came to know about her daughter’s travails in an alien land, she wrote a letter to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on July 22 seeking his intervention to locate her daughter and bring her back home.

Her daughter had gone to the US to pursue a master’s degree in 2021 and was in touch with her till two months ago, Fatima said in her letter.

“My daughter Syeda Lulu Minhaj Zaidi, a resident of Maula Ali in Telangana, went to pursue her Masters at TRINE University in Detroit during August 2021 and was often in touch with us. But, for the past two months, she has not been in touch with me and recently we came to know through two Hyderabad youths that my daughter is in depression and someone stole her belongings, which left her to starvation. My daughter was spotted on the roads of Chicago in the USA,” Fatima wrote.

Fatima has requested Jaishankar to intervene and ask the Indian Embassy in Washington DC and Indian Consulate in Chicago to arrange for her safe return home to India.

Meanwhile, Khaleequr Rahaman, a Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader, has on Wednesday (July 26) also requested Jaishankar to “kindly look into it”.

“Ms.Syeda Lulu Minhaj Zaidi from Hyd went to pursue MS from TRINE University, Detroit was found in a very bad condition in Chicago, IL. Her mother has appealed @DrSJaishankar to bring back her daughter. Would appreciate the immediate help,” Amjed Ullah Khan, a former corporator in Hyderabad, wrote on his Twitter handle.

The BRS leader has also shared a video grab of the woman and her 2021 visa showing details of her passport, residence in India and her annotation with TRINE University, along with the letter her mother wrote to Jaishankar four days back.

https://twitter.com/Khaleeqrahman/status/1684087461863997440