Two schoolgirls from Memari in West Bengal, missing for close to a month, have been traced to Rajasthan and safely reunited with their families by the Burdwan Government Railway Police, or GRP. Investigators pieced together CCTV footage, technical leads and information gathered from multiple sources before tracking the girls down to the Phulbagh area of Rajasthan on 31 July. After completing the required legal formalities, the police handed them over to their families on 2 August.
How the girls went missing
The case dates back to 1 July, when the two students left home in Memari as usual, supposedly headed for school. According to police, five girls had stepped out together that morning. Three of them reached school, while the remaining two stayed back in Memari itself and never went in. Investigators allege the pair sold roughly two thousand rupees they had with them along with some silver jewellery to buy a mobile phone, then slipped away without informing anyone, first to Bihar and later onward to Rajasthan.
The family's complaint and the GRP investigation
The girls' families initially approached the Memari police station to report them missing. It later emerged that the case fell under the jurisdiction of the Burdwan GRP, so on 14 July the families filed a written complaint at the Burdwan GRP station. Once the complaint was registered, the GRP opened its own investigation, examining CCTV footage, running technical analysis and following up on assorted leads until the trail led all the way to Rajasthan.
Why they ran away
During questioning after their recovery, the girls told police they had left home after being scolded, and had gone looking for work. In Rajasthan, they had been living in a factory warehouse. Police suspect someone had arranged that accommodation and the work for them, and have detained a person in connection with this and begun interrogating him.
A month of effort pays off
After nearly a month of sustained investigation, the safe recovery of the two students and their handover to their families is being seen as a significant success for the Burdwan GRP. Police are now also trying to establish whether anyone else played a role in the girls running away, and the questioning of the detained man continues.
