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MUMBAI: A missing 14-year-old city boy, Arsh Javed Khan, who had recently run away from his Marol residence, has finally been found safe and sound at his maternal grandmother’s house in Shahjahanpur in UP, which is over 1400 km away from here, much to the relief of his family.
However, social activists have urged all parents to be careful and sensitive while reprimanding children, especially adolescent teenagers.
“It is good that the boy, was found safe in UP, following his misadventure after running away from his house in a huff after he was scolded for missing his tuition class. We adults must understand that the youngsters these days can react rather sharply if they are punished by the elders,” said Marol based social activist and president of Amma Foundation group, Intekhab Farooqui.
The boy’s family member, Ismail S Khan, told TOI: “He had gone missing on the morning of August 26. The previous night he was scolded by his mother and also slapped for missing his tuition class. We were all very worried and had lodged a missing complaint at Sahar police station, besides distributing posters of the missing boy.”
Khan added that the boy had first taken a public transport bus from Marol to Ghatkopar, from there he went by a local train to CST in south Mumbai. “Then he got into a long distance passenger train to travel ticketless up till Lucknow. However, an alert TTE caught him inside the train compartment and the boy admitted to him that he had run away from home into order to go to his grandma’s house in UP. The TTE understood the seriousness of the situation and assured the boy that he will help him reach his destination safely,” said Khan.
After getting down at Lucknow, the TTE personally assisted him to get into a bus going to Shahjahanpur. “If he had met some wrong type of people, then we shudder to think what could have happened,” added Khan.
Meanwhile Farooqui said: “I will also try to meet the boy’s parents to see if the boy can be counseled as soon as he returns back to Mumbai. Currently he is still at his grandmother’s house. There have been cases in the past where teenagers have taken extreme steps for not being allowed to watch TV, or if their mobile phones are taken away from them. Hence, we must be careful.”