Abandoned at Punjab railway station five months ago, Krishna and Shankar still awaiting to reunite with family

The children are now staying at children’s shelter home in Bathinda, as efforts are on across both states to find their family.

The case has put officials in a tizzy as Krishna is well-versed in Punjabi. This raises a suspicion that the siblings might be students of a government school in Punjab. As per the initial DDR registered by Government Railway Police Bathinda, child Krishna had told cops that his mother’s name was Poonam, uncle Shiva and younger brother Shankar. He also revealed that he studied in class-3 in a village called Jagta.

ASI Shavinder Kumar, who had registered the DDR, said: “The elder child had also told that his mother had abandoned him and his brother in train but he did not know the name of the district or address of their home.

Going by some clues, we contacted Purnia and Katihar police stations in Bihar but could not find any leads. We also reached out to the people in village named Jagta but they said no kids with these names were missing or enrolled in their school.”

With the railway police failing to get any clues, the children as per procedure were handed to the department of social security, women and child development, but in the meantime, the Punjab school education department was also alerted as Krishna was found to be well-versed in Punjabi language. The officials then suspected that the children might be the students of a government school in Punjab and their parents apparently were migrant workers from Bihar. But none of the government schools from Bathinda district identified the siblings as their students.

In the latest effort, Punjab’s department of social security has now written another letter to director general of school education (DGSE) to widen the search across government schools in all districts, beyond Bathinda. The letter undersigned by the department’s deputy director states that “during further counselling, the children have further revealed that they also have a sister named Jyoti.”

“The child Krishna knows well how to read and write Punjabi and he has also revealed that he studies in a government school. But he cannot name his school or village. Hence, you are requested to circulate photos of both children in elementary and secondary schools across the state,” states the letter.

Yadwinder Kaur, protection officer, Punjab, said: “Initially we had limited the search to schools in Bathinda district but now it has been widened to entire Punjab. The children were not opening up during counselling initially. We are simply going by what they are telling us in bits and pieces. We alerted government schools across Punjab via education department as Krishna knows Punjabi language. We have again contacted authorities in Bihar via police. As per the Juvenile Justice Act, we have to make best efforts to ensure children reach their biological family but unfortunately, if it doesn’t happen, we have to put both children in adoption list.”