The 13-year-old Assamese girl, who went missing from Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday, was found in Visakhapatnam after 37 hours.
The girl was found by members of a Malayali association, who saw her in a crowded berth of the Tambaram-Santragachi Express. "We found the girl sitting in the middle of a group of boys. She appeared tired," said a member of the association. Though a group said that the girl was with them, they quickly withdrew their claim on further questioning. The girl has been handed over to the Railway Protection Force.
She had left her house at Kazhakoottam around 10 am after an altercation with her mother. The family failed to report the incident on time and despite the state police's night-long efforts, there was no trace of the girl.
According to reports, the girl boarded a bus to Thampanoor before taking a Kanyakumari-bound train. She was reportedly spotted by autorickshaw drivers in Kanyakumari. However, the girl managed to board a train to Chennai and was identified from CCTV footage at the Egmore Railway Station. By then, 30 hours had passed.
The Malayali association members in Visakhapatnam said they had been looking for the girl on trains arriving at the station. The parents of girl told media persons that they were happy and relieved. "She said she was upset as I had beaten her," the girl's mother told media persons after talking to her over the phone.
