CHAIBASA: A 19-year-old boy from Jharkhand who accidentally boarded a wrong train as a child and ended up in Kerala has reunited with his family after 13 years, police said. Raja Gope, who now plays for a football club in Kerala, speaks Malayalam and Hindi but has forgotten his native Ho language over the years. Police said Gope was only six when he got separated from his father while travelling to a brick kiln in neighbouring West Bengal. During the confusion, he boarded a train heading to Kerala and eventually reached Ernakulam. Activists later rescued him and placed him in a children’s home. At the time, Gope could only recall the first names of his parents and that he belonged to Chaibasa in Jharkhand, but he could not remember the name of his village. In February this year, he moved to Kannur under the Kerala Child Welfare Committee’s skill development and rehabilitation programme. Local activists then contacted the NGO Railway Children, and a video of Gope was circulated in Chaibasa, which eventually helped trace his village. “Entire Harimara village in Sonua area welcomed Gope on Tuesday as students of his school organised a procession beating ‘dhols’ and ‘nagaras’ (traditional drums) and women performed tribal dance. The boy embraced his weeping mother and four sisters,” a police officer said. “I want him to stay with us. But I know he plays football in Kerala and has to complete his studies. I will not stop him. At least, we know he is alive and doing well,” his mother Mani Gope told PTI. Raja Gope said he was very happy to meet his family. “I will support my mother and sister and, after landing a good job, will try to take them to Kerala,” he said. Police said multiple agencies, including the Jharkhand and Kerala administrations, were involved in the effort to reunite Gope with his family. Sonua police station officer-in-charge Shashi Bala Bhengra said the process required time to complete documentation, and a team from Jharkhand travelled to Kerala to bring him back. “As per the suggestions of the Kannur aftercare centre, we carried the necessary documents to establish his identity, including a declaration from his mother as his father died four years ago,” he said. West Singhbhum Superintendent of Police Amit Renu had earlier said that the NGO alerted authorities, after which Gope’s village was traced.
