Quick action by an alert passenger led to a child, who had run away, being reunited with his family but not before lack of communication among railway police led to some tense moments at Virudhunagar railway station.
The passenger, who was on his way to Chennai on the Kanyakumari Express, saw the boy at Tirunelveli railway station on Friday evening.
The boy, who seemed about 15 years old, told the passenger that he had run away from home after being hit by his relatives. The resident of Ganapathypuram in Kavalkinaru, in Tirunelveli district had recently been promoted to class VIII.
Angered by the harsh treatment at the hands of relatives, he travelled nearly 70 km to reach the railway station where he boarded the train hoping to reach Chennai. The boy’s sister lives in Pushpa Nagar in Pammal near Tambaram.
The passenger, who refused to be named, contacted a senior officer of Government Railway Police, Chennai, who in turn asked staff of GRP’s helpline in Egmore to get in touch with the passenger.
The helpline staff did get in touch with the passenger who briefed them about the boy. The officers assured the passenger that their colleagues at the GRP outpost in Virudhunagar would receive the boy and take him to his parents, the man said.
However, when the train reached Virudhunagar, the man was surprised to find no GRP personnel waiting. The passenger then took the boy to the outpost, where staff had no idea of the incident. The man had to narrate the whole story yet again even as the train was on the verge of leaving.
He somehow managed to convince the staff there about his conversation with the GRP official and helpline staff and leaving the boy there, got back just in time to board the train. Subsequently, GRP officials contacted the boy’s father Isakkimuthu and restored the boy to his relatives late on Friday night.
Staff at the GRP Helpline (99625 00500) in Chennai said that they had received the call regarding the boy at 7:45 p.m. on Friday.
They also said that they had managed to contact their colleagues at Virudhunagar and had also recorded his being reunited with his family. “There was no complacency from our side,” an official added.
