Separated 19 months ago, 58-year-old woman reunited with family

Meenaben Trivedi, the elderly woman, and her son, Chetan (right). Pics/Hanif Patel

In December 2019, a 58-year-old mentally unwell woman had left her home in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, and somehow landed in Mumbai a few days later. Thanks to the constant effort of a Virar-based old-age home, Meenaben Trivedi was finally reunited with her family on Tuesday, nearly 19 months later.

Meenaben's son Chetan Trivedi told mid-day that his mother is ‘mentally unwell', and has a history of leaving the home unannounced. "She left home in December 2019 without telling anyone. We tried our best to search for her and finally filed a missing person complaint in February last week. But, then the entire nation was put under lockdown," Chetan said.

In Mumbai, police found Meenaben wandering about in Santacruz on December 16, 2019, and handed her over to Carver Shelter home, run by Jeevan Anand Sanstha. Kishan Choure, executive committee member of Jeevan Anand Sanstha, said, "She left our Santacruz home after five days and remained untraceable for several weeks."

"Luckily, an officer from Nirmal Nagar police station found her roaming aimlessly in Bandra East one day and brought her to our Virar shelter home, Samarth Ashram, on May 30. I spoke with, but she couldn't recall her name correctly, but remembered her children's names," Choure said.

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"I then tried to find them on Facebook and also contacted a few local police officers in Gujarat to enquire about any missing person complaint of an elderly woman. But we did not get any headway," Choure said.

"Then one day, during a random search on Facebook, I found a profile of her relative and sent her a message. But I didn't get any response. So, I dug deeper and found a contact number in a post of this relative's friend," he added.

"I called on the number, talked to her and sent Meenaben's photographs. On July 6, the relative connected me with Chetan," he said. He came to Virar and completed all legal procedures. Nirmal Nagar police recorded his statement and verified her identity.

Chetan, a priest, said that in the past they always managed to find her within a few days. "This was the 15th time that she left home. But it took us time to locate her due to the lockdown. We had lost all hopes. But thankfully, she is hale and hearty." He added that his father had left home in 1995, and never returned. "He was also mentally unwell, but I was too young then."