Nashik: Four children — recently rescued during the city police’s Operation Muskan — have reportedly gone missing from a shelter home in the Nanawali area. The boys, all aged between 14 and 15, disappeared from the facility around 4.30 am on Saturday. Their sudden disappearance has sparked immediate investigation by the local authorities who were responsible for their safety during the transition period. The Bhadrakali police have officially registered a case of abduction against an unidentified individual, a standard legal procedure given that the missing persons are minors. Security protocols at the shelter home are currently under review to determine how the children managed to leave undetected. The police are actively searching the surrounding areas and coordinating with multiple departments to ensure the boys are located and returned to safety.Under Operation Muskan, as per the guidelines from senior officials, the city police rescued 64 children about a fortnight back.The police said that these children were those who were found wandering on the streets or seeking alms. Later, while some children were handed back to their parents, some were kept at the shelter home run in Nanawali — run by the women and child development commissionerate. The Bhadrakali police said that there were about seven to eight children at the shelter home concerned, out of which four escaped.“We searched the Nashik Road railway station area from where the boys were rescued. These children are mainly orphans. Nonetheless, our search will be on,” a police officer said.“We are also scanning the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage at railway stations and other locations in a bid to trace the boys,” the officer added. Retired ACP Seetaram Kolhe, while talking to TOI, said considering that the boys escaped, it has to be noted that children on the roadside often experienced trauma, neglect, domestic violence, or the vulnerability of life on the streets. “As a result, fear, mistrust and insecurity are deeply rooted within them. While the protected environment of a shelter home provides safety, the restrictions can feel like a loss of freedom to them,” Kolhe said. “In traumatised children, the fight-or-flight response is intense and hence running away becomes a psychological defence mechanism,” he added.
