10 years on, Panchkula police reunite lost child with family

Chandigarh, May 24

The Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) in Panchkula reunited a lost boy, aged 16, with his family in Rajasthan after a decade.

The unit contacted the welfare officer at the children’s home in Rajpura in search of the missing children. They didn’t have any child from Haryana, but there was a child who was living there, but with the problem of locating his family.

Belongs to Rajasthan

• The father, Shankar Lal, said his son had gone missing from their village in Sirohi district of Rajasthan 10 years ago.

During counselling, the child told his and his parents’ name and said that he was a resident of Samastipur in Bihar. On contacting the mentioned address and family, it came to light that the child was not right in mentioning the place.

During further counselling, a word “dalghar” came up, which was used as a basis for Internet search, leading to information about six villages. Contact was made with all states concerned, and it was discovered that “dalghar” was located in Sirohi district in Rajasthan. The child’s photo was sent to the village, and the father recognised his son. The father was also sent a photo of the boy and a video call was conducted.

The father, Shankar Lal, said that his son had gone missing from their village 10 years ago in 2013 when he was aged only six. By the order of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) Amritsar, the minor was handed over to the family after the required formalities.

In another instance, the chairperson of the CWC, Shimla, informed the AHTU, Panchkula unit, via email that they had two minor children, aged 11 and 8, who seemed to have a connection with Haryana, based on their language. The AHTU gathered information about both children and conducted counselling sessions over phone.

During the counselling, the 11-year-old child seemed familiar with the language near the Jind area. On the same basis, the police in Jind were contacted by the AHTU, where the child’s family was traced to Bhiwani Road, Jind. On identification, video calling was done with the family.

Another minor child, aged eight, had reached Shimla by train in April-end. His family was traced to Kalka, Panchkula. The mother of the minor was poor and illiterate, so the expenses for bringing him from Shimla to Kalka were also borne by the AHTU.