Meghnagar (Madhya Pradesh): A 30-year-old Kalu alias Kalia Vasunia from Julwania village of Jhabua district who had lost his way home was reunited with his family after a social worker, Jitendra Suman, took to social media to reconnect him with his family thousands of miles away. With no words to express their happiness, Vasunia's family embraced him as soon as he deboarded the train at Meghnagar railway station. The family claimed that they had lost hope of seeing their child again after he went missing in 2009 while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Ranapur village in Jhabua district.
At that time he was just 14. Kalu’s family members claimed that he fled the hospital while undergoing treatment for mental health. Initially, they searched for him, but four-five years later, police found an unclaimed body of a mentally challenged persons and they thought he could be Kalu. Vasunia's family cremated him and performed all post-demise rituals for his peace.
Meanwhile, recently they got a video call from the Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi (LGB) Regional Institute of Mental Health in Tezpur, Sonitpur district, Assam, and the health staffers there informed them that Kalu is undergoing treatment there and he is fine. To re-confirm his identity, they interacted with him on the video call as well. After the video-call, the relatives were convinced that Kalu was alive and they left for Tezpur to bring him back.
Commendable role of social media
The role of social media in the entire case was commendable. Kalu was counselled by the doctors at the renowned Gopinath Bordoloi Regional Institute of Mental Health in Tezpur, Assam, and they got information about his native village from him. Doctors there shared information with the Indore-based mental hospital through the Mental Health Care Organisation in Mumbai.
Jitendra Suman, the nursing officer posted here in Indore, got success in searching for family members through Neeraj Srivastava, a social worker in Meghnagar village of Jhabua district. Neeraj who played a crucial role said, ‘Often we ignore the mentally ill people we see around us, but if we make a little effort, maybe we can reunite many separated people like Kalu with their near and dear ones”.
Neeraj has been doing such work selflessly and till now he has helped dozens of such people to reunite with their families.
