Fed up with online classes, Surat teen runs off to Mumbai

On Monday, the Class 8 student, the son of a tobacco vendor, had allegedly left home when his parents were away.

A 14-YEAR-OLD Surat boy who went missing from his home on Monday had travelled to Mumbai’s Bhayander area, around 280-km from at his residence, partly by cycling and partly hitching rides on trucks, police said. The boy, a resident of Adajan, had left behind his mobile phone and a note expressing his frustration with online classes, police added.

On Monday, the Class 8 student, the son of a tobacco vendor, had allegedly left home when his parents were away.

After he went missing, police said his father found his mobile phone and a note that purportedly read: “Mummy-Papa, I have troubled you a lot. Now, I am going far away. I cannot understand anything through these online classes. Sorry for the trouble.” Except for classes 10 and 12, schools in Gujarat are holding online classes amid the pandemic.

Police said the father checked CCTV footage of the housing society and found that the boy had left on his bicycle with just a bottle. The parents filed a missing complaint Tuesday.

In his complaint, the father said that they had come to Surat five years ago from Mumbai, where they lived in Bhayander.

On Wednesday, the boy’s uncle, who still lives in Bhayander, informed the family that the child had reached Mumbai. The couple informed the police and left for Mumbai.

“A major reason behind him leaving was that he was unable to understand subjects taught online. We would check his mobile usage. But we did not put pressure on him for studying,” the father told The Indian Express.

According to the father, the teen had left Surat on his bicycle. “He rode around 20 kilometres from Surat and reached the NH48. Later, he took lifts from truck drivers to reach Navsari, from where he again rode on his cycle. He then took lifts from trucks and reached Bhilad, on the border of Gujarat and Maharashtra.”

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