RANCHI: Ten tribal children, including six girls, who had been missing since January 31 after attending a shraddh ceremony in Jharkhand's Koderma district, were rescued from Bihar's Gaya, police said on Sunday.
The children, belonging to a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) and residents of Gadiyahi Birhor Tola in Khariyodih panchayat, got separated from their team.
They boarded a train but failed to alight from it at the right station and reached Gaya.
Koderma SP Anudeep Singh said all 10 missing children were found in a child home in Bihar's Gaya district on Saturday.
"After we received information that some children had been kept there following their rescue by the Gaya police, I rushed there with my team. Upon arrival at the child home, we matched the details, and also confirmed their identities via video calls to their respective guardians and brought them back," Singh said.
He said that it was found during the investigation that on January 31, about 60-70 people from their hamlet had gone to attend the shraddh ceremony in Parsabad, which is about 4 km away.
Except for these 10 children, everyone returned.
They had somehow wandered off, reached Parsadih railway station, and boarded a train, but were unable to get off at their station.
The children then reached Gaya.
They were wandering there and were rescued by the Gaya police on February 2, the SP said.
The police in Gaya handed them over to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), and Koderma Police was informed on February 7.
No criminal angle is involved in this case, another official said.
The police were informed about their disappearance on February 6, and an FIR was lodged at Jainagar police station.
The children were traced and brought back to Koderma within 24 hours of filing the FIR, the SP said.