Missing boy reunited with parents after 17 months

Missing boy reunited with parents after 17 months
UNITED NEWS OF INDIA

SURAT, SEPT 15: Six-year-old Iqbal Kaderkhan has been through more in 17 months than some people do in a lifetime. Iqbal boarded the wrong train while embarking on a trip with his uncle and was begging at Ratlam station until officials reunited him with his parents.

According to official sources, Iqbal was reported lost while on a trip to Halol from Godhra along with his maternal uncle. At the Godhra railway station, Iqbal was separated from his uncle and he ended up boarding another train going to Ratlam.

Later, the Ratlam railway police noticed a small child begging on the station and took him to the Kishore Kalyan board. However, the board authorities were unable to track down his parents as the boy could not tell them his address. Iqbal then stayed with them for four months. The board authorities realised that the child was from Gujarat while talking to him.

They then brought Iqbal to the juvenile court of Surat in October last year and kept him in the observation home. Officials never gave up, questioning Iqbal about his parents everyday. The boy finally uttered the word "Khambat", which provided them with a clue to the place he hailed from. They then established contact with the Khambat police and the search for his parents resumed. Finally, the boy was reunited with his parents after a gap of 17 months.

The reunion brought tears to the eyes of everyone present when the boy was embraced by parents who had lost all hopes of finding him.