SCRB reunites man with family 21 years after he went missing

Babu (62), of Vadodara, Gujarat, went missing 21 years ago, leaving behind his wife and two sons. Since he was mentally unstable, it became very difficult to trace him, but his brother Kamal was confident of Babu being alive and coming back to them someday. Kamal took Babu back to their hometown finally on Wednesday. 

This, in fact, is the 123rd successful reunion of missing persons with their families by SCRB since 2016, the previous one taking place just three days ago after Ajeeth of Buxa in Assam, who was sheltered in East Eden Foundation, being reunited with his family two years after he went missing. 

Babu would have met his family on Tuesday itself, but the delay in train arrival postponed the union by a day. Nevertheless, Babu was brought from Senthil, Anbalayam in Tiruchy, where he had been sheltered since 2013 and arrangements had been made for his stay overnight in Chennai. 

When Kamal met Babu, he asked for his name and hometown, after which they hugged. When asked if he wanted to go back to his town, Babu said yes. Babu’s elder son Aatif too had come along, but he could not recognise his father since the latter went missing when he was only 10.

The idea of reunions was mooted by ADGP Seema Agarwal in 2016 after a mentally unstable woman from Vellore, who ended up in Uttarakhand 13 years ago, regained her memories and wanted to return to her hometown. After Uttarakhand police facilitated the reunion, the ADGP decided to trace the families of those with mental illness from other states who somehow reached Tamil Nadu and were admitted at homes by NGOs or police. 

AS Thahira, inspector with SCRB, has been involved in the programme since 2016 by visiting homes across the state to collect data about inhabitants and trace their families in other states. 

The inspector says the infrastructure for such persons in Tamil Nadu is much better compared to other states and it is easy to trace them as all their data is uploaded on the e-services website of Tamil Nadu police and readily available for access. 

She said anybody can alert police about mentally ill people who are abandoned and it is their duty to admit them at homes and take care of them.