Just by remembering the name of his village helped a 16-year-old boy reunite with his family after a decade. The boy had gone missing from his village in Haryana in 2013.

The Haryana Police were able to zero in on Dalghar village in Rajasthan as no boy was missing in five other villages with similar names in other states.

The boy, a lone child of his parents, was staying at Children Home at Rajpura in the Patiala district of Punjab. The Haryana Police Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) in Panchkula established contact with the child welfare officer of the childcare centre in Rajpura to find out if any child from Haryana was staying there. But the officer told the AHTU that they did not have any child from Haryana, but a boy was living there who was found on a train. They were facing problems in tracing out his family as he was not able to give the required information.

During counseling by the AHTU, the child disclosed his name and the names of his parents, but claimed to be a resident of Samastipur in Bihar. However, when inquiries were made in the location, it was discovered that no child was reported missing from there.

A Haryana Police spokesperson said the breakthrough came when the word “Dalghar” emerged during the counseling. A search on the internet led to the discovery of six villages with similar names in India. Contact was made with all the states, and eventually, it was found that Dalghar was located in the Sirohi district of Rajasthan. Father of the missing boy recognised his son from a photo sent by the police, and a video call was made to confirm their relationship. After necessary formalities, the boy was reunited with his family.

In another case, the AHTU received an email from the chairperson of the Child Welfare Committee in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, informing about two children who seemed to have connection with Haryana based on their language.

Through counseling sessions over the phone, the AHTU determined that one of the children was familiar with the language spoken in the Jind area. The local police in Jind were contacted, and the child’s family was traced to  Bhiwani Road, Jind. Similarly, the other child’s family was located in Kalka, Panchkula. Both boys were successfully reunited with their families.