3 min readMumbaiOct 17, 2014 01:21 AM IST
First published on: Oct 17, 2014 at 01:21 AM IST
Megha with her friends in Bandra on Thursday. (Source: Express photo by Prashant Nadkar)
A day after she was reunited with her family in Mumbai’s Nirmal Nagar five-year-old Megha spent Thursday playing with her cousins and friends — as if she had never been away for the past year-and-a-half.
Megha, who returned holding a policeman’s hand and speaking in a Kashmiri accent acquired during her stay in Srinagar, recognised her family instantly.
The girl was returned in a joint operation between the Nirmal Nagar police and the missing persons bureau of the Mumbai Police. She was rescued after a family in Kashmir found her in one of the shelter camps set up after the flood.
“Suraiya didi ne mujhe kapde dilwaye (Suraiya got me these clothes),” Megha said on Thursday, pointing to the dress she was wearing, referring to a member of the family that found her.
According to police statistics, around 2,500 children under the age of 18 go missing from Mumbai every year. “Many children have been found and reunited with their parents. Around 3,000 children who have been missing from 2005 to September, 2014, are yet to be found,” said ACP Vasant Dhobale, missing persons bureau.
Megha was kidnapped from Shivaji Nagar area in Bandra east and taken to Kashmir by a man whom she calls ‘Nasir uncle’. She was then taken to Srinagar and made to beg from tourists till the floods hit. “Nasir used to make me beg,” Megha said as she played with the balloons policemen bought for her.
After staying with a Muslim family in Srinagar for two weeks, Megha returned to her Nirmal Nagar home at around 9.00 pm on Wednesday by flight. Her mother Seema, who works as a maid, received her with a hug. “Each day without her seemed like a year. I will never let her out of my sight again,” said Seema.
Megha was subjected to a medical test first in Kashmir and then at Bhabha Hospital in Bandra, following which sexual abuse was ruled out.
“The begging racket is rampant in Mumbai. Six months ago, a girl was rescued from one such kidnapper in Kasturba Marg in Borivali east,” said a police officer.
The Nirmal Nagar police now only have a name — Nasir — to work with. “We will show Megha photographs of history sheeters and see if she recognises any of them,” said a police officer.
Megha with her friends in Bandra on Thursday. (Source: Express photo by Prashant Nadkar)
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