Two 9-year-old boys reunited with family by Thane Child Protection Unit

A nine-year-old boy who boarded a long-distance train stationed at Nashik Road railway station to use the washroom travelled all the way to Kalyan after the train suddenly started; within a day, the Child Protection Unit of Thane traced his family; in another case, a nine-year-old boy from Kasara was reunited with his family; he went to play Holi with his grandparents in Shelu and was angry that his grandparents did not give him money for snacks and boarded a random train

A nine-year-old boy who boarded a long-distance train stationed at Nashik Road railway station to use the washroom travelled all the way to Kalyan after the train suddenly started. The boy was found by the authorities who took him to a shelter home in Ulhasnagar on March 20.

Two 9-year-old boys reunited with family by Thane Child Protection Unit in two separate incidents. One of the boys travelled all the way from Nashik Road to Kalyan Station before he was spotted. (HT PHOTO)

Within a day, the Child Protection Unit (CPU) of Thane traced his family with only the name, Annachi Wadi, which the boy kept on repeating.

The boy informed that his name is Manoj but couldn’t tell his surname, and that he was from Annachi Wadi. HE also recollected a public toilet but other than that he couldn’t tell anything.

According to CPU officials, the boy, a resident of Nashik Road, stays near a slum area adjacent to the Nashik Road railway station. His family members are ragpickers. On March 20, the boy was collecting plastic bottles from the track and wanted to urinate. He saw a long distance train at the station and wanted to use the toilet in the train. He boarded the train that started and he could not alight from a moving train. He directly reached Kalyan railway station, where a few people saw him crying and the authorities sent him to a children care home in Ulhasnagar.

Assistant police inspector, Preeti Chavan, said, “We received information about the boy and we went to get his details. While he was able to provide only the area name and his first name, it was a bit difficult. Moreover, there was no missing complaint registered by his family who tried to look for him on their own. We used all our sources to learn about Annachi Wadi. In this way, we got to know it must be from Nashik Road but were not sure. With the help of a police officer attached to Nashik Road, we got the mobile number of a person who stays in this area and he knew that this boy’s family was searching for him.”

CPU learnt that the boy stayed with his mother while his father had expired a few years ago. Chavan added, “We managed to get the mother’s number and made a video call. The boy identified her and we made arrangements to take him to his mother. His full name is Manoj Jadhav and his mother was clueless about whom to approach after her boy went missing and was in tears on finding him back.”

In a similar case, another nine-year-old boy, Nilesh Manje, of Kasara was reunited with his family. He went to play Holi with his grandparents in Shelu and was angry that his grandparents did not give him money for snacks. He boarded a random train on March 20.

He reached CST and was not telling his address as he did not want to go home. He was sent to a children care centre in Matunga.

An officer from the Child Protection Unit said, “We have been reuniting missing children with their parents in a special drive since the last few months. We found this boy and tried to get information through some tricks or luring him with snacks. He told us he came from Shelu. We contacted Neral Police, who investigated if there were missing children and contacted his parents. With a video call and reunited him with his parents.”