KOCHI: Emotional scenes unfolded at the Assisi School for Deaf at Neerpara in Thalayolaparampu, when 10-year-old Monti finally reunited with his parents after a gap of five months.
Puranchand, an autorickshaw driver in Delhi, and his wife Anitha had reached the school after they received a phone call from the Childline authorities saying their hearing and speech impaired boy was safe here in Kerala. Monti was spotted at the Ernakulam South railway station on March 22 by the Railway Protection Force. The police later informed the Childline authorities, who admitted the boy to the Special School at Neerpara with boarding facilities. After interacting with the child, one of the special educators Rincy, who visited the facility last month, understood the boy was from Delhi.
Rincy passed on the information about the child along with a photograph to her friend in Delhi, who successfully traced Monti’s parents.According to the office-bearers of the Kochi Childline Centre, Monti had gone missing a couple of times in the past, but was found shortly thereafter since he had not gone this far. However, it was difficult to trace the boy’s whereabouts as he could neither talk nor understand Malayalam. The Childline authorities produced the boy before the Ernakulam district Child Welfare Committee (CWC) to get his release order to send him with his parents.