Two missing mentally disabled persons found in Amritsar, MP, reunited with families

Two missing mentally disabled men found living in deplorable conditions in Amritsar and Madhya Pradesh have at long last been rescued and reunited with their families in Punjab.

A Jalandhar-based NGO was instrumental in ensuring their homecoming. National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) and its activist Amarjit Anand stepped in to help the men when they heard of their pitiable condition.

In the first case, Lovepreet, 19, a mentally disabled man, had gone missing in Ferozepur five months ago. His mother, Paramjeet Kaur, works as a housemaid in Barike village near Hussainwala, to make ends meet. She is a single mother and has four children.

19-YEAR-OLD’S MOTHER HAD BEEN FEARING THE WORST

Kaur says she had filed a missing person complaint with the police but had gradually lost hope when months passed without any news of her son.

She was reunited with her son on Friday after he underwent a Covid-19 test upon his return from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh with the GRP police on Thursday night.

Kaur said, “I had sleepless nights wondering how my child was surviving without food and shelter.”

Lovepreet, was found sleeping on roads by the GRP police and circulated a video of him to ascertain his identity. Anand, who is also a member of the state advisory board on disabilities, said two weeks ago that he shared the video with all volunteers across the state.

Last week, a worker, Pritpal Singh, with help of a local NGO and the administration found him in Jabalpur village.

Pritpal, arranged food and lodging for the teen, till the administration ensured his safe departure.

“We put forth his case before district magistrate Jabalpur Bharat Yadav and he sanctioned Rs 35, 000 to cover taxi fare and other expenses to send Lovepreet back to his family,” Anand said.

In the second case, 21-year-old Javed, who also has mental disabilities, boarded a train on March 31 and reached Amritsar.

His father Lukmaan, a 71-year-old rickshaw puller lived in Mayur Vihar, Delhi, launched a manhunt to find him the next day but to no avail.

Anand, with help of local volunteers and the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), ensured the child’s safe return.

Anand said that he had received information about this child from a shopkeeper in Amritsar and through NCPEDP executive director Armaan Ali on March 31. “With the intervention of the NGO and DEPwD, the child was sent back to his home in Delhi on April 4. It took several days for us to trace and retrace the child,” he said.

“In this unprecedented situation, the administration and governments have chance to trace most missing children, especially mentally disabled people, who mostly, sleeps on the roads,” he said.