‘Help me get my son’s life back on track’
A YEAR LATER Mother of Sonu, who spent six years in captivity in Bangladesh, says he is finding it difficult to go back to school. He has Class 6 knowledge but age of a Class 8 child
Sonu’s eyes remain glued to the blackboard, even as his classmates titter and exchange notes like children are expected to do. And when the teacher glances in his direction, the 13-year-old boy shakes his head helplessly.
Having received no education in his formative years, Sonu was made to cover the syllabi of classes 1 to 5 in just 12 months. Every childhood joy was sacrificed to make up for entire years spent in forced confinement in a foreign land. Unfortunately, the boy’s best efforts may not be enough to achieve his dream of academic fulfilment.
“My child wants to be a policeman when he grows up, but now it looks like he may not even become a clerk,” observed Mehboob Saifi, his father, his eyes downcast.
But before we join Sonu on his incredible 12-month journey and the sudden roadblock he has now come up against, let’s take a look at the scary incident that started it all.
In June 2010, Sonu – then a boy of six – was kidnapped by a Bangladeshi woman while he was playing outside his house in east Delhi’s New Seemapuri. He was taken to Jessore in Bangladesh, and made to work as a domestic help. Any sign of rebellion was rewarded with ruthless flogging and periods of forced starvation.
Early last year, hope arrived in the form of a neighbour – Jamal Ibn Musa – who asked Sonu where he hailed from. Sonu couldn’t remember anything beyond “Dishad Garden in India”. Armed with this meagre knowledge, Musa took it upon himself to unite the boy with his long-lost parents.
Playing a real-life Bajrangi Bhaijaan, the Good Samaritan came down to Delhi in an attempt to trace Sonu’s parents. The decision came at a heavy cost – Musa lost his job back home after the kidnapper filed a false case against him.
This, however, only strengthened the man’s resolve. He sought the help of some journalists, who – in turn – alerted external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj. Things moved swiftly from then on. Sonu returned amid great publicity in June 2016. However, great challenges lay ahead. Sonu had not begun schooling when he was kidnapped, and six years later, he could neither read nor write. The boy could speak, but only in Bangla. Hindi was nothing more than a memory.
Sonu’s parents, however, wouldn’t give up without a fight. But how does one make a 12-yearold boy start studying from scratch? While putting him in a classroom with children seven years younger than him seemed unimaginable, directly admitting him to a higher class was bound to doom his academic prospects. “As Sushmaji had seemed helpful, I asked her for help. She said she would find a solution to our problem, and even promised to arrange a meeting with the Prime Minister,” Saifi said.
But Swaraj didn’t seem as accessible once the media hype died down. When all attempts to reach her failed, Saifi and his wife – Mumtaz – decided to take up the challenge themselves.
Over the next 12 months, Sonu underwent a rigorous academic routine consisting of everything from tuitions and madrasa classes to home-coaching by parents and siblings. Salma, a local tutor who had briefly taught Sonu before his kidnapping, also took up the challenge.
“Sonu did not know the letters of the alphabet, or even basic arithmetic. He couldn’t speak in Hindi either,” said Salma. However, things began improving on the language front after Saifi and his mother Mumtaz forbade Sonu from speaking Bangla at home.
A series of special classes followed, and Salma quickly familiarised the boy with two and threelettered words before moving on to numbers and multiplication tables. “Sonu is very hard-working. Not once did he refuse to attend a class,” she said.
In the one hour of leisure Sonu was allowed each day, he would In June 2010, Sonu, then six years old, was kidnapped by a Bangladeshi woman while he was playing outside his house in east Delhi’s New Seemapuri He was taken to Jessore in Bangladesh
Sonu told his neighbour, Jamal Ibn Musa, in Bangladesh that he hailed from Dilshad Garden in India
Musa travelled to India to find Sonu’s parents
With help from journalists and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, Sonu returned home in June 2016
Sonu, then 12, could speak only Bangla
Over the next year, Sonu tried to catch up on academics with tuitions and home-coaching by parents and siblings Although Sonu was good enough to be enrolled in Class 6, schools said as per the rules he could only be admitted to Class 8 due to his age
The boy was admitted to Class 8 at a local government school on July 10, 2017 watch television. “I understand that we were being unfair to him, but there was little we could do in the circumstances,” said Saifi.
The rapid-education project took its toll on the family’s finances. Saifi’s job as a motorcycle mechanic used to earn him between ₹25,000-₹30,000 per month, but his business collapsed soon after Sonu’s return. Finally, he was forced to take up a helper’s job at a nearby shop for a meagre salary. Debts mounted.
However, the actual shocker