Houston, Feb 5: Efforts to have a new law in the US state of Texas which would make it a felony to leave a child alone at home is gathering steam and has won the support of a lawmaker in whose constituency 3-year-old Indian girl Sherin Mathews was found dead in a culvert, a media report said.
The decomposed body of Sherin was found in Richardson city in suburban Dallas October 22, over two weeks after she was reported missing by her Indian-American foster father, Wesley Mathews. The proposed ‘Sherin’s Law’ would make it a felony to leave a child at home alone, US media reports quoted activists involved in the move as saying.
Linda Koop, the Republican lawmaker from Dallas, is working with the two activists on the proposed legislation, The Dallas Morning News reported. Koop said she hopes to find ways to make the law simple but impactful so it can be passed as soon as early next year. “Little Sherin was killed in a part of my district,” Koop said. “There’s a lot of healing that needs to be done, but there is also a law that needs to be passed,” she added. Two Texas women activists, Reena Bana and Shanna Poteet Rivera, said they hope their proposed legislation – which they call “Sherin’s Law” – will prevent deaths like Sherin’s.
Authorities say Sherin, who was adopted by the Indian- American couple, Wesley and Sini Mathews, died of “homicidal violence.” “What this is going to do is keep people on their toes,” Bana, orginally from Pakistan, said. “This is giving people more accountability to take action, and it’s helping out cases like this from happening more often.”
Wesley, Sherin’s father, initially told authorities in October that his daughter disappeared after he put her outside at 3 am as punishment for not drinking her milk. Mathews had waited hours before calling police, authorities said.
PTI
