J’khand youth separated 13 yrs ago to return from Kerala, reunion planned

Chaibasa (Jharkhand): In a humane initiative, the West Singhbhum police will send a team to Kerala to bring back a youth who was separated from his father 13 years ago after boarding the wrong train, and help reunite him with his family in Jharkhand, officials said on Thursday.

Superintendent of Police Amit Renu said the police were alerted to the case by an NGOs about Raja Gope, who went missing as a child and is now in his early 20s.

“We have traced the boy’s family living in a village under Sonua police station in West Singhbhum district. A team will be sent after completing necessary formalities to bring him back,” Renu said.

He said Chaibasa Deputy Superintendent of Police Vinod Kumar and Sonua Police Station Officer-in-Charge Shashi Bala Bhengra will coordinate the process.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Vinod Kumar said the police have established contact with the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in Kannur district of Kerala, where Gope is currently staying at an ‘After Care’ centre.

“The superintendent of the After Care centre in Kannur has asked us to produce documents verifying the identity of the boy’s parents and complete other protocols. We have initiated the process,” Kumar said.

The team deputed to Kerala will include representatives from Sonua police station and the West Singhbhum District Child Protection Officer (DCPO), he added.

Police said Gope’s family resides in Harimara village under Asantaliya panchayat of Sonua block. As part of the verification process, authorities will obtain a certificate from the village mukhiya confirming that Gope belongs to the village and that his mother, Mani Gope, and siblings live there.

“The DCPO will submit a report, and identity proof of the boy’s mother will also be taken. His father passed away four years ago. These documents are necessary to complete the transfer from the After Care centre,” Kumar said. According to Fardeen Khan, who looks after Jharkhand operations of NGO Railway Children, Gope was about six years old in 2012 when he was travelling with his father to West Bengal for brick kiln work.

Separated from his father, Gope reached Kerala and was placed in care. Activists traced his family in West Singhbhum; reunion formalities and rehabilitation

plans are underway.