A 14-year-old boy who went missing two years ago reunited with family: Police

A 14-year-old boy, went missing two years ago from Narela was reunited with his family, police said Wednesday. The boy, a class five student of a government school in Narela ran away from the school two years back after being reprimanded by his family members for not faring well in studies, police said.

A complaint was filed in the regard in 2017. The complainant had then said that his 12-year-old nephew had been missing since February 13, 2017. "The boy belongs to Shamali in Uttar Pradesh and had been staying with his uncle in Delhi. On February 13, 2017, the boy had run away from school in his uniform," said Rajiv Ranjan, Additional Commissioner of Police (crime).

A case was registered and an investigation was taken up by the local police initially but it was later transferred to the Anti Human Trafficking Unit of the Crime Branch, Ranjan said. The Crime Branch teams visited Haridwar, Meerut, Mumbai, Roorkee, Kerala, Shamli and Saharanpur to trace the child but failed to find him following which a cash reward of Rs 50,000 was declared.

A few days ago, a good samaritan saw the picture of the missing boy on a 'Hue and Cry Notice' pasted at the Old Delhi Railway Station and recalled that he had also seen and spoken to the boy at the 'langar' at Sisganj Gurudwara recently. He informed the Anti Human Trafficking Unit of the Crime Branch after noting down the contact details from the notice, the officer said.

On Tuesday, the boy was spotted near Sisganj Gurudwara and was reunited with his family after he was produced before the Child Welfare Committee. The boy did not allege any maltreatment by anyone.

He stated that he had run away from the school after being reprimanded by his family members for not faring well in studies, the officer added. For the past two years, he had been moving from place to place in Delhi and had finally settled near Sisganj Gurudwara.

He would often work, eat and sleep in the Gurudwara itself, police said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)