Mumbai: An eight-year-old boy who had run away from home was on Monday reunited by the collective effort of the Government Railway Police (GRP) and railway authorities. The boy, Abhay Atarakar, was spotted by Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury, chief news photographer, The Hindu , around 1.30 p.m.
“At Elphinstone Road station I noticed this boy. He was standing near the door and seemed to be alone,” Mr. Roy Chowdhury said. Since he did not get clear answers from Abhay, Mr. Roy Chowdhury then took the boy to Lower Parel station master. The station master called the local GRP staff and handed the boy over to them. “We took the boy to Churchgate and our child welfare cell began looking for the parents based on the boy’s inputs,” Senior PI Bhaskar Pawar, Churchgate railway police station said.
The boy’s parents were traced to a slum pocket near IC Colony in Borivali. The GRP staff then brought the parents to Churchgate and reunited the family later in the evening. Police officials said the parents had told them that the boy had run away in the morning, and that they had been looking for him.
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The boy’s uncle, Kishore Atarakar, who lives in the same locality, said the boy had done this a couple of times in the past. “Around four to five days ago, the boy had run away and was found by the police at Masjid Bunder railway station. He doesn’t even go to school,” Mr. Atarakar said. Abhay studies in Class 3 at a school in Eksar. Mr. Atarkar said the family is struggling to make ends meet. Abhay’s father is a autorickshaw driver and he has a school-going elder brother.