Runaway boy returns to J'khand
Ambika Pandit
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New Delhi:
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SHOs Traced His Home; Teen Lived At Railway Stn Before Being Rescued
Sixteen-year-old Monu (name changed) ran away from home in a Jharkhand village to make a living in Delhi along with other boys from his neighbourhood. After a short stint on odd jobs in Chandigarh he landed at Old Delhi railway station. Lucky to be rescued and admitted to the first drug de-addiction shelter for street and runaway children at Delhi Gate in June, he was happily reunited with his brother from Jharkhand on Monday .Monu would have been one of the many children who get lost and do not even make it to the database of missing children but for the efforts of counsellors at the night shelter that was converted as the first de-addiction centre for street and runaway children.The SHOs of police stations in Delhi and Hazaribagh helped trace the boy's house. Finally , it emerged as a heart-wrenching story of a boy who lost his parents while he was just a toddler.
According to Jhanvi Jain, counsellor and in-charge at the de-addiction shelter run by NGO Society for Promotion of Youth & Masses, from the day Monu arrived he wanted to return home. “He gave us the address and de tails and we started the hunt for his family . After much struggle and coordination with the police we finally managed to connect with the family on Sunday . Monu was delighted to hear that his brother was coming,“ Jain said.
The boy told TOI that he dropped out of school after Class V . He was living with his brother who was married with two children and worked in Assam. Earlier this year, Monu had gone to his village in Hazaribagh with his brother and sister-in-law. But soon his brother left for Assam and his sister-in-law for Kolkata to meet her children enrolled in a residential school. Alone for almost a month, Monu was lured by other boys coming to Delhi to earn money .
“I caught a train along with my friends without informing anyone. I reached Chandigarh where I worked for some time and then came to Delhi in June. When we got off from the train I got lost in the crowd and then an NGO brought me here,“ Monu said.
He was produced before the Child Welfare Committee (Kingsway Camp) which allowed him to return with his brother after an assurance that he would be enrolled in a vocational course and the proof sent to the CWC.
While Monu has left the capital happily with a promise to fight poverty , now it is for the authorities to ensure rehabilitation once he returns to Jharkhand. Without follow up on cases of poor children like Monu, child rights activists say they many times return to the streets to fight hunger and poverty .
According to Jhanvi Jain, counsellor and in-charge at the de-addiction shelter run by NGO Society for Promotion of Youth & Masses, from the day Monu arrived he wanted to return home. “He gave us the address and de tails and we started the hunt for his family . After much struggle and coordination with the police we finally managed to connect with the family on Sunday . Monu was delighted to hear that his brother was coming,“ Jain said.
The boy told TOI that he dropped out of school after Class V . He was living with his brother who was married with two children and worked in Assam. Earlier this year, Monu had gone to his village in Hazaribagh with his brother and sister-in-law. But soon his brother left for Assam and his sister-in-law for Kolkata to meet her children enrolled in a residential school. Alone for almost a month, Monu was lured by other boys coming to Delhi to earn money .
“I caught a train along with my friends without informing anyone. I reached Chandigarh where I worked for some time and then came to Delhi in June. When we got off from the train I got lost in the crowd and then an NGO brought me here,“ Monu said.
He was produced before the Child Welfare Committee (Kingsway Camp) which allowed him to return with his brother after an assurance that he would be enrolled in a vocational course and the proof sent to the CWC.
While Monu has left the capital happily with a promise to fight poverty , now it is for the authorities to ensure rehabilitation once he returns to Jharkhand. Without follow up on cases of poor children like Monu, child rights activists say they many times return to the streets to fight hunger and poverty .
Source: The Times of India, 16-09-2015
