Pune, 12 September 2012:
For 26-year-old Smitha Joshi, the world suddenly came crashing down
when her two-and-a-half-year-old son, Abeer, disappeared from a bus
stand in Pune on Sunday. She thought that her son had been kidnapped.
But just 24 hours later, there was relief and joy in the Joshi household
- Abeer was back in his mother's arms after being miraculously rescued.
The tearful reunion followed a harrowing day and night of desperation
and frantic search for Abeer. A native of Aurangabad, Smitha was
boarding a bus home from the Shivajinagar bus stand in the city on that
fateful Sunday afternoon. While she went inside the bus to place the
luggage, little Abeer was standing outside. But when Smitha got down the
bus, she found Abeer missing - all in a matter of minutes.
"I had just gone inside to keep my bag in the bus...Abeer was standing
down...as I came back, he was not there," Smitha said. A search for the
boy began but in vain. The Joshis feared the worst - their son had been
kidnapped. A missing person's complaint was lodged at the Shivajinagar
police station.
In the meanwhile, Abeer's family and relatives continued their search,
scouring all bus stands and the railway station in the city to look for
him. After almost 24 hours, Abeer's uncle finally spotted a woman with a
little boy near a bus stand in the city. He grew suspicious - the woman
had covered her face with a cloth and was approaching the bus stand. As
she came closer, he realised that it was Abeer who was with the
unidentified woman.
"We are trying to find whether this woman is part of an organised gang
but the very fact that she kept the boy with her for 24 hours without
informing the police is suspicious...we will interrogate her," Smita
Mehendale, Inspector, Shivajinagar Police Station said.
The woman will now be produced in court and the police hope that her
interrogation may help them in unearthing what could possibly be a
bigger racket.
For the Joshis, meanwhile, their joy knows no bounds. "I am very happy
now...my son is back...I was so concerned what may have happened to
him...he was not well," Abeer's mother said. But not everyone is as
lucky. Every year, thousands of children go missing - while some get
lost, others are kidnapped by gangs and syndicates and are later made to
beg or become victims of trafficking. - UT