Avani’s photo was tagged with @RailMinIndia. Avani’s photo was tagged with @RailMinIndia.

IT WAS a collective effort, virtually. Many people across the country got a photo of four-year-old Avani Jain with a Railway Police official stating how she had got lost at the Nagpur railway platform on their WhatsApp messages and Facebook posts.

The groups had tagged the same with the @RailMinIndia. The photo showed the girl holding a lady railway police official’s hand. Soon, the photo was shared by one of the officials and it spread to nearly 200 whatsapp groups within minutes. In 20 minutes of the picture going viral, the girl, who was travelling with her mother and family from Nagpur to Bhopal, with the help of the railway police, could trace her mother Sunaina Jain and relatives.

“Social media has been a powerful factor and the photo was tagged with the railway ministry, which also saw the Railway Minister, Suresh Prabhu, respond to us by stating that he was glad that Avani was found,” said Shanky Jain, uncle of Avani.

It all started when Avani with her mother, Sunaina Jain, and uncle Sandesh Jain were waiting with their cousins at the Nagpur railway station.

They were having their usual conversation when they had to move further ahead on the platform and Avani got left behind. For the next 20 minutes, they went into a frenzy and fortunately, Avani was helped by a railway police official.

The photo of the railway police official holding her was forwarded by one of them and soon it went onto a social media group “Amche Nagpur” and the relatives came to know that she was with the railway police.

Meanwhile, the uncle of Avani too did the same. Within 20 minutes, Avani could find her mother. The parents were thankful to the railway police official for using the social media platform, which helped them in tracking the child.

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