17 June,2009 09:27 AM IST | | B V Shiva Shankar and Suresh M R
After a week's search, Manu's parents were found in a village near Nanjangud; say he will go back to school and Manu is happy to obey
A woebegone Manu Kumar alias Arun (12) broke into smiles when his parents walked into Balamandir on Monday.
MiD DAY had "bought" the boy, with three others, for Rs 3,000 in a sting operation to expose child-trafficking in the city. They were later handed over to Balamandir, run by the Children's Welfare Committee (CWC) of the Women and Child Development department.
CWC released two of them Dilip and Nanda as they were above 18 years. Manu and Varun stayed on at Balamandir, a government home for orphaned and runaway children.
Varun was reunited with his family the very next day, leaving behind a tearful Manu. "Please send me to my parents," Manu had wept. "I will be lonely after Varun leaves."
Search operation
Officials from Balamandir and Bosco Mane, an NGO working with street children, combed Mysore and Chamarajnagar, where Manu's parents worked as construction workers.
After a week, they managed to find Rangaiah and Chikkathayamma in Dibburu, a village near Nanjangud. The couple was looking for their son who had gone missing without informing them.
Back to school
"We didn't want him to work and insisted that he study," his father, Rangaiah, said. "He was misguided by his friends to come to Bangalore." He said he would send Manu back to school where he was studying in the 8th standard.
Manu's mother, Chikkathayamma, said: "We were very worried and wanted to complain to the police but we are poor and had no courage to go to the police station."
She was happy to see her son in safe hands but was clueless about the child-trafficking racket in the city. "How scary this world is," she said. "I will never allow my son to repeat this."
Manu, wreathed in smiles, said: "I will listen to my parents and go to school."
