Babu! Have you seen my elder sonIJ” asked a bearded old man from an autorickshaw driver at the lower PMG on Friday. The auto driver shrugged and left.
The old man asked many auto drivers the same question, but could not get an affirmation. Finally, he broke down, sitting helplessly by the road.
When asked about his problem, the well-dressed old man said, “I’m a helpless man searching for my lost son since 2010,” adding, “I can’t live more days without him. My wife is bedridden thinking about our son.” His voice trembled with emotion.
Gopinath Pradhan (60) of Belapada village under the Kanas police limits in Puri district said his elder son Sunil Pradhan (29) had gone to his brother-in-law’s house Hadia Sahu at Gualipada under the Delang police station in the district on September 5, 2010. When he didn’t return to home, Pradhan telephoned his daughter Swapna, wife of Hadia, inquiring about Sunil’s whereabouts and told them to send him back to home.
But later, Pradhan was informed that Sunil left his sister’s house leaving the cycle.
“At first we thought he might have gone to his friend’s house, but later we filed a missing case on September 15, 2010 when he didn’t return to home,” said Pradhan.
He said he asked Hadia to file a missing case, but he didn’t listen to them. He pleaded the police to bring his son back and filed as many as 12 FIRs regarding this case, but nobody paid heed to his requests. They had returned a copy of an FIR on March 14 this year.
When Pradhan’s family failed to get any help from the police, they knocked on the door of Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) last year seeking help to bring Sunil back.
“When all quarters kept mum in the matter, I started my journey to search my son. I spent 20 days in a month to find out my son,” lamented Pradhan, adding, “I have spent thousands of rupees selling my land to search my son.”
As his son was a driver in profession, Pradhan went to Puri, Paradip, Bhubaneswar, Brahmapur, Koraput, Rayagada, Rajgangpur, Sundargarh, Kandhamal, Rourkela, Cuttack and a few other places to find out him. Three years passed, but he did not leave any stone unturned in searching for his son. On Friday, during his marathon search, he came to Bhubaneswar and was asking the drivers about his son.
When contacted, Pradhan’s younger son Sushil informed that his brother-in-law Hadia Sahu had eloped with his sister Swapna and then married her 12 years back. We didn’t have any good relation with him, but after few years our elder brother bridged the gap between the two families. In due course of time, his elder brother had gone to Sahu’s house and didn’t return from that day.
“Sahu’s cousin staying in Salia Sahi had promised to find out my brother and had asked money for that. We believed him and went with him to Salia Sahi, but we got cheated,” said Sushil over phone.
“I’ll continue my journey to search my son as we can’t live without him. Who will forget his own blood,” questioned Pradhan and then continued asking auto drivers about his son.