Balurghat, April 24: He is 11 years old and has run away from home 13 times. Rajesh Kumar of Bihar’s Bhagalpur (name changed), who was picked up by the Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel from Malda station on March 18, was handed over to his father today after spending a month in a state-run orphanage here.

“Humko azadi do. Mujhe bhagneka bimari hai. Main yahan nahi rahunga (Give me freedom. I am afflicted with the disease of running away. I do not want to stay here),” Rajesh has been telling the employees of the orphanage where he was put up.

After he was picked up, the GRP contacted Praajak, a Calcutta-based NGO that rehabilitates children living on railway platforms. “We often come across this type of children, including some from well-off families, who have the habit of running away from home repeatedly,” said a member of the organisation.

Rajesh’s father is a fish seller in Bihar. Members of Praajak’s Malda branch tracked out him to Bhagalpur. They also informed authorities of the orphanage. Accordingly, a small handing over ceremony was organised at the orphanage in the presence of Sucheta Biswas, the chairperson of the Balurghat Municipality.

Rajesh is the youngest of his three brothers and three sisters. “We cannot prevent him from running away. This is the 13th time that he ran away from home. The first time he did when he was just five years old,” the father said.

That the boy did not fall into bad company was a miracle to the father. “We have always been lucky that some good people have traced me out and I managed to take my son back home,” he said.

Rajesh had run away from home on January 28 this time. Since then there was no trace of him. “When we had almost lost the hope of finding him after searching for long, the good news came from Praajak. We are happy,” the father said.

Rajesh, however, was unrepentant. “I do not like staying at home,” said the boy who has dropped out from school at Class V. He wanted to live the life in his own way. Rajesh said he has already been to Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Siliguri.

“I roam freely. No one asks me for a railway ticket. When I do not get food, I do not eat and just drink water. I am glad to see my father but not fully. I do not want to return home,” Rajesh said.

But he was in two minds. Once he said he would be out again after visiting his mother and other siblings, the next moment he changed his mind and said he would not run away from home this time.

It has not been all easy going for the pre-teen boy. He recalled that he was beaten by by some boys at Howrah station about a year ago. The scar is still visible on his abdomen.

According to Jairanjan Ram, a child psychiatrist, most child-runaways are either afraid of an unhappy stay at home or are physically or sexually abused. “In cases where a child repeatedly runs away from home, the problems continue to linger. No child runs away from home to have fun,” he said when The Telegraph contacted him in Calcutta.

Ram pointed out that children live “in the present” and take on-the-spur decisions. “In order to prevent a child from running away, the parents and immediate family members should be counselled to iron out the problems and create less pressure on him,” he said.