Google, CWC unite brothers separated from mother 9 years ago

Two teenaged brothers, separated from their mother nearly nine years back, were reunited with her in a sequence of events that’s no less than a blockbuster movie plot.

Anil, now 16, and his brother Sunil, 17, traced their mother to Tilaswa village in Rajasthan’s Bhilwara district through extraordinary luck and a little help from the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in Kota.

Anil was rescued from Kota railway station by the CWC on October 28. But his trouble had begun nine years back, when he and his brother ran away from their maternal grandmother’s home, fearing they might be punished for laxity on their part.

The family’s goats had gone missing under their watch, said Kota CWC chairman Harish Gurubaxani.

From the village, the two boys reached Ujjain, where they were found by the CWC in the city.

After finding Anil, the CWC team and a Kota-based NGO, Tabar, tracked the boys’ village with the Internet search engine, Google.

Recounting the reunion tale, Gurubaxani said during counselling with CWC members and Childline, an NGO, Anil said he was unable to recall anything about his village but its name — Tilaswa.

The CWC members conducted an investigation and found two boys had gone missing from the village nine years back.

Anil said he along with his elder brother, Sunil, were living at a shelter home in Ujjain from where they were released some time back, as they had reached the age of 18 years.

Anil and Sunil with their mother and CWC members. ( HT Photo )

Sunil was in Jaipur for some work, he said.

“Since Anil remembered only the name of his ancestral Tilaswa village but not the name of the district so it was difficult for us to find locate his house,” said Gurubaxani.

Anil, however, remembered his father, Shambhu and his maternal uncle had a fight once.

With the help of Google, the CWC members located the boy’s ancestral village in Bhilwara district.

The team then enquired from the local police in Bhilwara if there was any police case registered against any person named Shambhu.

Police confirmed that a case had been registered and found that two boys had gone missing from the village nine years ago.

The lead helped the CWC members trace their mother, Ladbai, and then they called Sunil from Kanpur and then summoned Ladbai and her family members to Kota on Wednesday.

The two were confirmed as Ladbai’s sons through identical birth marks on their bodies and similar characteristics, CWC chairman Gurubaxani said.

The reunion has elated the family. The mother said she was happy and feels fortunate to have her sons back after so many years. The two boys were handed over to Ladbai as she was the “appropriate person” to have custody of the boys, said Gurubaxani.

According to Gurubaxani, the tale of the mother was also no less miserable. She was abducted by her brother-in-law, Shambhu, when she was only six. At the age of 16 and 17, she delivered Sunil and Anil, and her brother-in-law was the father.

After living with the man for a few years more, she fled and went to her parents’ home in Tilaswa village.

Lalbai said her brothers and family members had a fight with Shambhu when he tried to take away her with him. After Shambhu’s death more than nine years back, her mother married her off to a man named Mahaveer and kept the sons with her, she said.

The two boys went missing after going to graze cattle the same year.

The Kota CWC, meanwhile, has raised questions over the role of their counterparts in Ujjain in determining the age of the two brothers. Through medical examination Anil’s age was confirmed to be around 16 years, said Gurubaxani, questioning how the CWC in Ujjain released them to a foster-care centre without them reaching adulthood.

He said he would write to legal bodies concerned in Madhya Pradesh, demanding a probe into the matter. Gurubaxani said it is a matter of probe as to how the boys reached Ujjain.

(With inputs from PTI)