Date:10/11/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/11/10/stories/2006111022370300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Three runaway children restored to their parents

Staff Reporter

RESCUED: The five runaway children seen with the two volunteers of NGOs in Bangalore.

Bangalore: For 12-year-old Tejas it is a long way from home. The boy from Bangalore, who ran away from home, along with four of his friends from Mysore on Tuesday, is yet to be re-united with his parents because he refuses to reveal any details about his family.

These five children — Ramu, Tejas, Dilip, Nishad and Kiran aged between eight and 14 — decided they wanted to "be on their own" and ran away from home.

Three of them were child labourers and were working at the Mysore Dasara exhibition stalls.

They boarded a bus to Dharamsthala and would have been lost to their families forever — if not for the presence of mind of Akkalamma, a woman conductor on the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), who got suspicious on seeing a group of children travelling by themselves. She told BOSCO, the voluntary organisation that works with street and runaway children, who later rescued the children. "She asked them why they were travelling unaccompanied and the children said that their parents were travelling to Dharamsthala in another bus and they were just going ahead of them. Then Ramu removed Rs. 500 from his pocket and gave it to her for the tickets, which raised her suspicion. She drew the attention of the other passengers and the bus driver to the children and took them in her custody," Fr. George of BOSCO said.

Ramu had taken Rs. 3,700 from his home and the children had spent some of the money during their journey from Mysore to Bangalore.

They asked the children where they had come from, but they were not forthcoming with any information.

The children travelled to Dharamsthala and came back to Bangalore in the same bus. "Once they reached here, Ms.

Akkalamma informed BOSCO and we rescued the children. She was courageous and helpful," he said.

While Ramu, Dilip and Nishad have been re-united with their parents, word has seen sent to Kiran's parents, who will shortly be coming to take him home. But Tejas is not revealing anything about himself.

"As far as we know, the boy has a history of running away from home.

"We are counselling him and want to keep him in our custody till we get some information on his parents," Fr. George said.