21 years later, girl traces parents in Maharashtra

Police dusted off old case records of missing persons complaints and finally managed to locate her parents.

In a real life tale that appears to be taken out straight from a Bollywood potboiler, a local girl, who went missing in 1995, has reunited with her parents after a gap of 21 years.

Jyotsna Dhawle was eight years old when she lost her way after stepping out of her home in Datta Nagar locality. Joytsna reached a railway station from where she boarded a train to Mumbai.

After reaching Mumbai, she spent five days on a railway platform before getting into a train which took her to
Hyderabad, police stated in a release issued on Thursday.

[related-post]

Story continues below this ad

Jyotsna was spotted by a woman hotelier in Hyderabad who took the girl to her home as domestic help.

According to Jyotsna, the hotelier’s family used to harass her. Later, they relocated to Kerala after some years; Jyotsna fled their house and took a train to Bangalore where her life took a new turn.

She was spotted by the Childline police at Bangalore railway station and after preliminary enquiry, she was admitted to a hostel there. During her stay, Jyotsna attended school and passed class X exams, the release stated.

She was then married off to her hostel-mate M Shivshakti and the couple started their life in a rented room in Bangalore where Jyotsna gave birth to a girl in 2004 and a boy in 2008.

Story continues below this ad

However, during all these years the urge for tracing her parents grew stronger in Jyotsna.

In 2008, she started working for a software company, in Bangalore. It was the call that she made to police helpline in Chandrapur on March 16 this year that reunited Jyotsna with her parents.

“Jyotsna told police that her father’s name was Namdeo and he used to work as an autorickshaw driver. She could not recall her surname but told police that the locality in Chandrapur where she was staying had a Saibaba temple,” the release added.

Police dusted off old case records of missing persons complaints and finally managed to locate her parents Namdeo
and Shashikala through local auto drivers.

Story continues below this ad

It was an emotional moment for Namdeo and Shashikala when the police broke the news that their long lost daughter is alive.

It was an emotionally overwhelming reunion on Wednesday when Jyotsna (29), her husband and their children came to Chandrapur and met her parents.

“It was a great feeling of satisfaction as my staff worked with all sincerity and humbleness,” said district SP Sandeep Diwan.

News playlist:

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram