2 Std X girls from Mumbai run away to Goa in search of 'freedom'

Two teenage girls ran away from home in search of freedom from the tyrannies of schoolwork and studies. Two days later, the girls were traced to Goa, after their parents received a call from a man who told them they had approached him for a place to stay because they didn't have money.

Officials from the Oshiwara police, where the missing complaint was registered, have gone to Goa with the parents to get the girls back. According to the police, the two 15-year-olds had left for their tuition classes in Andheri (West) on Monday even-ing.

From there, the duo told their parents they were going to a nearby mall. When the Std X students didn't return even by 9 pm, the parents registered a missing complaint with the Oshiwara police.

Representational pic

Gone to Goa
The Oshiwara police immediately began trying to trace the girls. Police and parents tried to call the girls on their mobile phones, but they were unreachable. Parents of one of the girls told the cops that, one month ago, they had found a note written by their daughter in which she had said she wanted to run away from home to ‘live her life her own way'.

The girl had also mentioned that she was being harassed at home and wanted to run away to Delhi or Goa, and wanted to ‘roam the world.' One of the girl's classmates from the tuition classes in Behram Baug had found the note and given it to the teacher, who had warned her parents of her intentions. The parents had then even spoken to the girl and tried to pacify her.

The younger sister of the other girl told the cops that her sister, too, was frustrated and frequently cried in the bathroom. While police officers were trying to get the call data records of the girls' mobile numbers, one of the parents received a call from a man.

The man, who was calling from Panjim said the girls had approached him for a place to stay, because they had run out of cash. The man assured the parents the girls were safe in his guesthouse and that he had fed them for three days; he asked to be paid for his services.

Oshiwara police sprung into action and intimated the Goa police, asking them to trace the address. Yesterday, Goa police located the house and also took custody of the girls. "When their mobile phones were not reachable, we started searching for them and found they were in Goa.

We will counsel the girls and also find out if someone else behind their running away from home," said Subhash Vele, senior police inspector of Oshiwara police station.

When police asked the parents of one of the girls if she indeed faced as many restrictions as she had written about, they said they allowed their daughter to go to malls and nearby areas, but wanted her to concentrate on her studies since she was in Std X.

The parent of one of the girls alleged it could be a kidnapping. "We think our girls were kidnapped; they couldn't have just run away like this. For two days, we were worried about what could've happened to them," the parent said.

Oshiwara police and the parents left for Goa yesterday to fetch the girls. Police will record the statements of the duo and the man who found them.