For eight-year-old Suraj Vishwakarma it was a homecoming after an ordeal of two long years, which included a begging racket, followed by a stay at an orphanage. Thanks to the anti-human trafficking unit, the little boy who was residing in a Dombivali orphanage, was finally reunited with his parents on Sunday.
Suraj had gone missing from his home when he was six years old.
According to the police, the boy had left his parents in frustration because of constant quarrels between them. “The daily quarrels between his parents had frustrated him. In 2013, his parents had taken him shopping, during which they had another quarrel. Angry, he decided to leave them and go to his grandparents’ place. Suraj only remembers that he boarded a train but was not sure about where to go and on which station to get down. He got off at a railway station he had not seen before. There he met a man who took him to his house. After a few days of stay with him, Suraj was told to stay with another man.”
Suraj reportedly told the police after he was reunited with his family that he did not remember anyone’s name. “I used to call him appa, and whatever instructions he gave, I followed them. Whatever money I got by begging, I gave it to him and he then gave me five rupees to eat vadapav once a day.”
Officials said Suraj was not able to give a detailed account about his ordeal. “The person whom Suraj met had engaged him in the begging business. According to the information collected, the boy must have gone to Ahmedabad,” they said. “Based on the names of the areas he gave us, our investigators have concluded that he must have ended up there. The man he met there then brought him to Mumbai for begging a few months ago. For the past few months, he was begging in trains in the city. A government railway police official in Thane saw the boy crying on the platform. When he found out the boy could not give him a proper address, the policeman handed him over to the Bhiwandi children’s home and from there he was sent to the Dombivali orphanage,” they added.
The police said Suraj’s parents had got separated after he went missing. They had filed a missing complaint with the Rabale police station. While going through the records of missing complaints, the Navi Mumbai anti-human trafficking cell found details of Suraj and his photo.
The police was thus able to reunite him with his parents. Before handing him over, the police also arranged a counseling session for his parents.
The police said it was searching for the culprit who had used the boy for begging. They are preparing sketches and trying to find out the linchpin behind the illegal activities.
