BERHAMPUR: Apprehending that their juvenile act might attract the wrath of their parents, four girl students of a local government school fled Berhampur only to be rescued by the police within 12 hours, on Saturday.
The teenage girls were all students of Class IX. They were rescued from IRE chowk under Chamakhandi police limits on the day.
Police investigation revealed that one of the four had proposed to a junior if the latter would be interested in her brother. During this episode, two of her friends were present. However, the junior reported the matter to her mother who, in turn, intimated the issue to the school headmaster.
The headmaster cautioned the three students against such acts and asked them to bring their parents to the school. This scared the girls, who decided to flee Berhampur and move to Bhubaneswar. On Friday, four of them started for school but went to a public toilet, where they changed from their school uniforms and boarded a bus to Digapahandi.
Berhampur SP Saravan Vivek M said the mother of one of the girls lodged a complaint at Badabazar police after her daughter did not return from school. Police formed teams and went in for a thorough search through the night.Investigation showed that after the four reached Digapahandi, one of the girls withdrew Rs 500 from an SBI ATM and then all of them returned to Berhampur. They got down from bus at City Hospital chowk and contacted another friend who resides at Chatrapur. Thereafter, they headed to Chatrapur by bus and got down at IRE chowk. This is where they were rescued by the police.
“During investigation, immediate steps were taken to rescue the girls and day and night searches were carried out at all probable places such as bus stand, railway station and relative’s houses. All the four girls have been handed over to their parents,” said the SP.