17-year-old boy goes missing on HSC exam day, contacts family later

He left home for his exam centre at St Mary College in Vashi and did not return home. He later contacted his parents by sending a WhatsApp message saying he was safe and would return soon

Navi Mumbai: A 17-year-old boy from Ghansoli went missing after he left home to appear for the first HSC board exam paper on Wednesday morning. Police sources said the boy, whose name was withheld to protect his identity, was not very keen on writing the board exam due to inadequate preparations.

17-year-old boy goes missing on HSC exam day, contacts family later

He left home for his exam centre at St Mary College in Vashi and did not return home. He later contacted his parents by sending a WhatsApp message saying he was safe and would return soon.

When the boy did not return home, his parents started looking for him and realised that he had not appeared for the exam and had gone missing. They approached the Rabale police and filed a case of kidnapping. As per the Supreme Court guidelines, whenever a minor goes missing, even if it is ‘running away’ from home, a case of kidnapping has to be registered directly and not a missing person’s complaint.

Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) of Navi Mumbai, who are investigating the case, said that the boy has contacted his parents through a WhatsApp message and is safe. “We suspect that he went to a friend’s house, and since he got afraid that his parents might scold him, he decided to stay back there for a day more,” Prithviraj Ghorpade, police inspector, AFTU.

The boy had switched his phone off and accessed a Wi-Fi network to message his parents, not mobile data. With two siblings, he is the second child of his family.

According to police, in such cases where the ‘kidnapped’ minor returns home, a ‘C Summary’ report is filed in the court, which means ‘FIR is found to be based on a mistake of fact’ and the case is closed.