Kanpur: An 11-year-old fifth-grade student from Kanpur district who went missing from his home after he escaped to avoid attending school has been found hiding in bushes close to a canal. The Uttar Pradesh state child Ramkesh was discovered after a six-hour-long search by the police, local villagers, and the divers, who were alerted by the distressed family of the boy. The reunion of the minor with his family brought relief to the parents, but left many questioning the child’s misbehaviour.
The five standard students, including Ramkesh, who hails from the Dalehpur village in the Bidhnu police station area, went missing from home on Tuesday morning after they fled to avoid going to school. The police report on the missing student said that on Tuesday morning, Ramkesh got up and told his family he wanted to use the washroom and instead parked his cycle near a canal bridge and went towards the bushes nearby.
To the family’s concern, Ramkesh did not return from his escapade for the entire day. His family members informed the police only to get worried by the discovery of his cycle near the canal. They panicked and informed the police they were anxious that their son might have fallen into the canal.
Police, with the help of local people and the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel, launched a search in the canal for six hours before the news came that a villager had sighted the cap of the child in the bushes.
Police teams quickly surrounded the bushes and found Ramkesh, who was unharmed but concealed himself in the bush in an attempt to escape the school. The officers lifted him and reunited him with his parents. In joy and relief, Ramkesh’s parents cried as they held their son tightly.
The policeman told the parents that he was only found after a villager spotted his cap in the bushes. The officers then said to the young student that running away from home to avoid going to school was unacceptable and stated they also warned him not to repeat such activities. “The child told us that he wanted to run away from home to avoid going to school. He could have fallen in the canal, and this would have had an adverse outcome,” an officer from the Kanpur Police said.
They also added that they had warned the family to monitor him better, and his parents were also told to ask him to communicate if he didn’t want to go to school. The heart-wrenching incident of the missing Indian student soon spread in the locality, and many residents were shocked by the boy’s irresponsible and immature behaviour.