Hearing, speech impaired boy from Punjab stuck in Jodhpur shelter

JAIPUR: A 14-year-old hearing and speech impaired boy, who was found in Jodhpur railway station in April and staying at the children's shelter there, has not been able to get back home to Punjab allegedly due to lack of cooperation from the child welfare department in that state.
The boy is believed to be from Punjab as he has identified photographs of the Golden Temple as well as bus stands in Amritsar and Attari. Authorities here have sought permission from the Rajasthan child commission to go to Attari in Punjab to look for the boy’s home.
According to officials, they have not been able to find as to how the boy reached Jodhpur.
Sangeeta Beniwal, chairperson, Rajasthan Commission for Protection of Child Rights said, “Other than being hearing and speech impared, the boy, whom we call Gopi, is very intelligent and active. However, he has not been able to tell us as to how he reached here or for how long it has been since he left home. On being shown pictures, he did confirm that he is from Punjab. Unfortunately, the child commission department there is not cooperating well.”
Though state officials advertised and provided information about the boy, they have not yet received any response. Counselors also failed get any information from the child. Officials stated that they would keep making efforts to get more details about his background and take him back home.
Recently, a 11-year-old motherless girl, who ran away from home in Jaisalmer over a month back, was found living in a children's shelter in Madhya Pradesh’s Vidisha. Though Rajasthan’s child commission asked its counterpart to send the girl home, she has not yet returned. The girl apparently fled from home as she was being regularly beaten up by her father. The girl had joined a group of ragpickers and was spotted at Vidisha railway station by a school teacher who took her to the shelter.