Had run away when 16, saw relatives on app and couldn’t resist getting in touch

The TikTok app, which might have earned its users a fair amount of ridicule for their often hilarious shenanigans, helped a runaway woman reunite with her family on Monday, three years after she fled her house.

According to the police, the woman, a 16-year-old girl at the time, went missing on November 5, 2016. A case of kidnapping had been registered against unknown persons. In 2018, the case was transferred to the Anti Human Trafficking Cell (AHTC) of the Thane Crime Branch for investigation.

AHTC officers said that 10 days ago, the woman’s sister and brother-in-law recorded a video of themselves lip-syncing to a Bhojpuri song on TikTok and published it on the app. Shortly thereafter, the brother-in-law received a friend request on Facebook from a user called ‘Abhay Shetty’, who said he had seen the TikTok video and wished to interact. “While chatting with the brother-in-law, ‘Shetty’ started inquiries about his wife and also asked how many sisters-in-law he had. The brother-in-law found this suspicious and informed us,” senior police inspector Ravindra Daundkar, Thane AHTC, said.

Acting on the police’s instructions, the brother-in-law kept chatting with ‘Shetty’ and casually mentioned that his mother-in-law — the woman’s mother — was seriously unwell. ‘Shetty’ immediately made a video call to the brother-in-law, revealing her true identity in the process, and asked what was wrong with her mother. The brother-in-law asked her to come to the Charai area in Thane, where his wife is being trained as a nurse.

When the woman showed up, AHTC officers, who were waiting in plain clothes, took her into custody and questioned here.

“The woman has said that her mother works as domestic help in Yavatmal, and she was staying there till Class IX. However, she was not happy there. She came to stay with her sister in Mumbra in 2016, but her mother kept insisting she return to Yavatmal, due to which she decided to run away,” Mr. Daundkar said.

On November 5, 2016, after fleeing from her sister’s house, the woman took a train and alighted at Byculla railway station, where she met an older woman. With the woman’s help, she secured employment with a catering service and was soon sent to Surat for a job, where she met an event organiser.

“The man proposed marriage to her and she accepted. They waited till she turned 18 and got married on June 22, 2017. Her husband subsequently became a choreographer and started working at Film City in Goregaon. The couple was staying in Nallasopara when she saw her family on TikTok and was unable to resist getting in touch,” Mr. Daundkar said.

The AHTC will file a summary report in the Thane court seeking that the case be closed as the woman is safe and sound, officers said.