Missing tribal girl found safe, reunited with kin in Palghar

Palghar, Nov 9 (PTI) An 8-year-old tribal girl who went missing from a government-run residential school in Maharashtra's Palghar district has been found safe at a villager's home and reunited with her parents, officials said on Sunday.

The child had been dropped off at the ashram (residential) school in Parli, Wada taluka, by her mother after a short break. Her brother also studies in the same school.

On the afternoon of November 6, the school's headmistress alerted police that the girl had disappeared from the campus.

According to Wada police station inspector Dattatreya Kindre, the child was "reluctant to stay at the school and wanted to go back home." Despite the staff's efforts to reassure her, she quietly slipped away.

Given the dense forests with wild animals and isolated terrain surrounding the school, authorities feared for the girl's safety.

The police began combing nearby areas, questioning locals and scanning CCTV footage. One clip showed the girl walking alone along the road from Parli toward Wada, the official said.

A breakthrough came when a passing vehicle’s camera captured her heading toward the remote village of Mandva Bochalpada. Police coordinated with local residents and eventually located the girl at a woman’s house in the village, he said.

She was unharmed and has since been reunited with her family, the official said. PTI COR GK