A 'run away from home' by a minor boy in Daltonganj keeps police and public in a quandary, said sources. The runaway was later seen as kidnapping.
The alleged kidnapped minor boy of the village Chiyanki under the Sadar police station in Daltonganj has been found in Kharagpur and the boy is lodged with the child welfare committee at Kharagpur in West Bengal.
Officer in charge of the Sadar police station in Daltonganj Kamlesh Kumar said the minor boy aged 14 is all fit and fine at Kharagpur in West Bengal. He was found loitering at the Kharagpur railway station on August 4 by child welfare committee and taken into safe possession of the committee, said the police officer here.
Kumar said the boy misled the rescuer team by coming from Maharashtra, whereas he is a Jharkhand boy. The Kharagpur team tried to locate his family in Maharashtra but in vain. Nearly 10 to 12 days were wasted in locating his roots in Maharashtra which was a futile exercise.
The boy had taken a goods train to run away from Daltonganj. It is not known as to how he landed up in Kharagpur. When the boy finally revealed his home address of Chiyanki, Daltonganj, Jharkhand it was only then the Kharagpur team could pass on information about him to its counterparts here in Daltonganj.
Kumar said he was informed about his recovery / rescue in Kharagpur on August 17. His family here in Chiyanki Daltonganj was shown the boy in Kharagpur on video call and they recognised and shared warmth and familiarity with each other.
According to Kumar the boy went missing from here in Chiyanki on July 17. His family too first was convinced that he has run away from home as he was scolded by his parents to mend his ways. The boy used to steal goats etc and that used to bring bad name to his parents, the police officer. The boy had other bad habits too. Although he is 14 years old he remains a student of class 3.
However, some local activists readied his family to raise the suspicion of their child getting kidnapped. The family began to chant the tune of the kidnapping. The NH 75 was blocked for 4 hours on July 27 and slogans were raised against the Sadar police for its failure to trace and track down the boy allegedly kidnapped. Everyone believed the boy must have been kidnapped.
Kumar said "We were very much convinced from day one when he had left his home here in Chiyanki that there was no issue of the kidnapping of this boy. We were further convinced the boy had left home on his own."
The police officer admitted there was enough pressure on the police to treat this case as that of the kidnapping. The mood of the family, neighbours and people in general swung for kidnapping.
There emerged a few eye witnesses also who vowed for the kidnapping of the boy. Kumar said the police had no choice then and so police on the basis of the eyewitnesses' account remanded 4 people in judicial custody on charge of the kidnapping of this boy. The four are in the central jail Daltonganj for over the last three weeks.
Kumar said the Kharagpur team will take a final decision to release this boy to the Daltonganj team only on August 26.There are a lot of intricacies involved in the release of such a child between the two states.
The police officer said our police officer and the family member or members of the boy would go to Kharagpur and then on completion of all the formalities the boy would be brought home in Chiyanki Daltonganj only after Kharagpur's final call on this boy on August 26.