Now, 10-year-old boy goes missing from Snehalaya

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 28

In the second such incident in less than three days, a 10-year-old boy inmate of Snehalaya, a shelter home for the destitute and abandoned children in Maloya, went missing on July 25, exposing chinks in security at the shelter home.

According to the police, Vinod Kumar, a warden at Snehalaya, complained that the inmate had gone missing from the home.

Police sources said the inmate managed to flee from the shelter home after giving the security the slip.

A case under Section 363 (kidnapping) has been registered at the Sector 39 police station. Earlier on July 24, a 13-year-old inmate went missing from the shelter home. The inmate was a resident of Indira Colony, Mani Majra.

Past incidents

This is not the first such incident. On June 18, two boys had fled away from the shelter home in the cover of darkness. On January 2 this year, two inmates of Snehalaya went missing during their visit to the Japanese Garden in Sector 31. The children had gone to the garden as part of their outing along with officials. While returning, two inmates, aged about 15, were found missing. About 70 children were taken for the visit to the garden from the home at Maloya.

In December 2014, an 11-year-old boy escaped after scaling the wall of the home. The boy was found from New Delhi. Similarly, in October, two girl inmates had fled after scaling the wall. The girls were later found at a relative’s place in Sector 52.

Ten inmates of Snehalaya had gone missing in 2011. They had reportedly scaled the boundary walls of the home and fled. The management was unaware about their absence for long. Later, nine inmates were traced.