AGRA: Amit Kumar, now 29, was seven years old when he was ‘abducted‘ from a village in Saharanpur district of UP and abandoned on a busy railway platform in Mumbai in 2003. After spending 3-4 days on the platform, a local cop put him on a train to Delhi. The boy started begging in the national capital and a few days later, police found him alone, roaming around.Since he could not remember his village’s name, he was sent to a Delhi orphanage where he grew up and studied till class X.
All along, he was haunted by memories of his parents and home. However, he could hardly remember names of the villages, Balachor and Ghumawti (where his parents belonged), in Saharanpur and Muzaffarnagar districts. He remembered jaggery-making units (kolhu) and bullock carts.
At 18, Amit started working in a shelter home for children in Ghaziabad where he met Haryana-based sub-inspector Rajesh Kumar, posted in an anti-human trafficking unit. Rajesh helped Amit trace his way back to his mother after nearly 22 years. His heart-warming story is now spreading like wildfire.
Rajesh told TOI: “Amit remembered a place called ‘Bala chowk’, instead of ‘Balachor’, where there were buffalo carts and kolhu units. He searched for his home for years. It was a big challenge for me too. After months of investigation , I concluded that ‘kolhus’ and buffalo carts – both in the same village – were mainly found in districts of western UP . Finally, I ended up in Muzaffarnagar district and traced his mother.”
When Rajesh reached Ghumawti with Amit on May 19, the latter’s mother Sunita Devi hugged him in joy and disbelief.
His village also erupted in jubilation with hundreds of people, young and old, gathered to meet the ‘lost son’. “I have no words to thank Rajesh sir. I had been looking for my village for two decades with the only hope of seeing my mother again… I’m earning these days and before I think about getting married , I want to repair my old house and admit my brother to a good school,” Amit said.
His parents, Jaggu Singh and Sunita Devi, were separated over 22 years ago, and he started living with his maternal grandfather in Balachor. Months later, Sunita’s parents got her married again in Ghumawti in Muzaffarnagar. After some time, Amit’s father took him along to his village Bahadarpur in Saharanpur. It was from here the seven-year-old boy was taken away by unidentified men.
On Tuesday, an overjoyed Sunita Devi, 55, said, “After losing him, not a single day passed when I did not miss him. But I never lost hope. I somehow knew in my heart that I would meet my son one day.”
All along, he was haunted by memories of his parents and home. However, he could hardly remember names of the villages, Balachor and Ghumawti (where his parents belonged), in Saharanpur and Muzaffarnagar districts. He remembered jaggery-making units (kolhu) and bullock carts.
At 18, Amit started working in a shelter home for children in Ghaziabad where he met Haryana-based sub-inspector Rajesh Kumar, posted in an anti-human trafficking unit. Rajesh helped Amit trace his way back to his mother after nearly 22 years. His heart-warming story is now spreading like wildfire.
Rajesh told TOI: “Amit remembered a place called ‘Bala chowk’, instead of ‘Balachor’, where there were buffalo carts and kolhu units. He searched for his home for years. It was a big challenge for me too. After months of investigation , I concluded that ‘kolhus’ and buffalo carts – both in the same village – were mainly found in districts of western UP . Finally, I ended up in Muzaffarnagar district and traced his mother.”
When Rajesh reached Ghumawti with Amit on May 19, the latter’s mother Sunita Devi hugged him in joy and disbelief.
His village also erupted in jubilation with hundreds of people, young and old, gathered to meet the ‘lost son’. “I have no words to thank Rajesh sir. I had been looking for my village for two decades with the only hope of seeing my mother again… I’m earning these days and before I think about getting married , I want to repair my old house and admit my brother to a good school,” Amit said.
His parents, Jaggu Singh and Sunita Devi, were separated over 22 years ago, and he started living with his maternal grandfather in Balachor. Months later, Sunita’s parents got her married again in Ghumawti in Muzaffarnagar. After some time, Amit’s father took him along to his village Bahadarpur in Saharanpur. It was from here the seven-year-old boy was taken away by unidentified men.
On Tuesday, an overjoyed Sunita Devi, 55, said, “After losing him, not a single day passed when I did not miss him. But I never lost hope. I somehow knew in my heart that I would meet my son one day.”
