Missing 6-year-old reunited with family

NEW DELHI: Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has helped in reuniting a six-yearold child with his family. The boy, Raju (name changed), lives with his family in Mandawali, Delhi. He studies in an MCD School in Shakarpur with along his siblings.

On 9 August, he reached his school a few minutes

late. According to DCW, his younger sister was allowed to enter but he was denied permission to enter the class. She

left him at the school gate and went to her class. When the school time was over, his sister returned home without Raju.

“She narrated the incident to her family. The family tried to search for him in surrounding areas but without any success. His parents then contacted the Mahila Panchayat centre of Delhi Commission for Women, based in Shakarpur run by Janpahal NGO,” added the DCP.

The women commission coordinator accompanied his parents to the police station and helped in lodging his missing complaint in the police station. After the complaint, police tried to trace him, but to no avail. Mahila Panchayat gathered some women of surrounding areas and demonstrated before the police station. The child’s picture was sent to all nearby railway stations and other authorities. The child’s parents visited many shelter homes in the capital and circulated his picture.

On August 15, a call was received from Butterfly Shelter Home and it was informed that Raju was living there. On reaching there, it was found that on the day of missing, the boy had boarded a local train and got off at the Nizamuddin railway station.

At Nizamuddin station, someone found Raju wandering and called Childline Helpline. They kept Raju in Butterfly Home, and when they found the pictures of child circulating, they informed Raju’s parents.

DCW chief Swati Maliwal said, “Hundreds of children are going missing every month. Many children are rescued and housed in shelter homes but due to ineffective coordination between various authorities, the children remain untraced in police records. There is an urgent need for complete digital linking.”