india

Updated: Jun 02, 2019 07:50 IST

The teenager had lost all hope of meeting his family. He knew only the name of his village. Trafficked to Delhiat the age of 10, he was beaten frequently by his employer, who also gave him electric shocks. After being rescued by a Delhi -based non-government organisation in July 2015, he needed counselling.

It took the boy, who is now 15 years old, four years in a shelter home to come up with little cluesabout his village. He did not know where the village was located. Last month, the NGO staff managed to trace his village to Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh and took him there.

The boy was overjoyed to meet his 23-year-old brother again after being apart for five years but returned to Jaipur to complete his studies and also to find his sister ,who was trafficked along with him. The boy’s parents are dead and he has six siblings. Police and NGOs have not been able to identify the traffickers yet. Hindustan Times is not naming the boy to protect his identity.

“I used to live with my brother when a person known to us brought my sister and me to Delhi in a train. After reaching Delhi in 2014, my sister was placed to work as domestic help while I was asked to work at an electrician’s shop. There were instances when I was given electricity shocks and didn’t get treatment after that. I tried to run away but they always used to find me. Finally, in July 2015, I managed to escape,” the boy said over the phonefrom a shelter home in Jaipur. He was rescued by the Bachpan Bachao Andolan.

“He recalled the name of his village in 2019 and his maternal uncle was found in the nearby village of Chunar in Mirzapur. We conducted a door-to-door survey of the village and found his home. He was reunited on May 8 with the family,” said an NGO member on condition of anonymity.

The boy, when he was 10-year old, was told by a close uncle that he could earn thousands of rupees and get a proper school education in Delhi . Born into extreme poverty in Chunar, Mirzapur district, the boy trusted him and came to Delhi along with his sister. “But I was tortured here. My employer not only used to beat me but never gave me proper food. I also don’t know where and how my sister is. I want to find her. I want to complete my education and don’t want any child to suffer like me,” he added.

According to the NGO member, he was forced to work for 15 hours a day. In October 2015, he was brought to Bal Ashram in Jaipur’s Viratnagar. Being a bright student, he was soon admitted to a government school.