Noor Nabab Ansari and (right) Jhumari Devi. Telegraph picture

Patna, Sept. 14: The story of how a mukhiya tracked down a lost boy’s family using the Internet and helped reunite them speaks of the triumph of modern day technology.

Noor Nabab Ansari’s obsession with hi-tech gadgets helped reunite 10-year-old Govind Kumar with her mother from whom he got separated five years ago, last Friday.

Noor is the mukhiya of Titra panchayat of Siwan district’s Jeradei block, around 150km northwest of Patna. “This is a special occasion for all of us. Govind’s mother, Jhumari Devi, travelled over 400km from Kishanganj to Siwan, to meet him. The mother and son hugged each other tightly when they met,” Noor told The Telegraph over phone on Sunday.

“In 2009, Govind, then five years old, was found loitering at Titra bazaar (market). We made umpteen efforts to trace the boy’s native place. But all he could say was that Besarbatti was his village,” Noor said.

Noor, savvy with computers, stays abreast and connected with news across the globe through the Internet. “Most of my relatives work abroad. The Internet has proved a boon for people like us to remain in touch,” she said.

Two years ago, Noor tracked a Besarbatti village in Jharkhand’s Jasidih and sent her husband, Mohammad Nawab Ansari, and a social activist, Ashok Kumar, to track down Govind’s family there but in vain. “Then, I intensified my search for all places by the name of Besarbatti in Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bengal and Odisha,” she said.

Thereafter, she contacted police officers of districts that had villages by the name of Besarbatti, to find out if anybody had lodged a complaint about a five-year-old named Govind going missing.

Finally, she got a call from the station house officer (SHO) of Galgalia police station in Kishanganj district, confirming that a minor boy had gone missing from the area falling under its jurisdiction in 2009.

“My eyes welled up when the SHO told me over the phone that the boy’s mother had identified the boy from a photograph that I had emailed him. I requested the SHO to help the mother reach Titra in Siwan. The woman arrived here on Friday,” she said.

When Noor enquired about Govind’s father, Jhumari said Buddhi Nath and remarried, while she was left to fend for herself and two sons born after Govind’s disappearance. Jhumari recounted how Govind suddenly went missing from home. She had no idea about how the five-year-old reached Siwan. Govind too was clueless.

Consoling Jhumari, Noor said: “Now, you have got your son back. He will take care of you.” Noor bought tickets for the mother and son’s return to Kishanganj and bid adieu to them. “Had I not been Internet-literate and not kept pursuing the matter, I would have failed,” she said.

Galgalia police station SHO Vijay Kumar said: “The boy has safely reached home. Jhumari and her relatives came to the police station before leaving for Besarbatti. Noor’s help must be appreciated.”

The panchayati raj department has brought in reasons for more cheer. Sources said it has sanctioned Rs 8,000 for each mukhiya to buy Net-enabled smartphones and to recruit executive assistants to help them maintain a record of daily work. A district magistrate in north Bihar said: “We have started picking executive assistants with basic knowledge of computers at a monthly salary of Rs 9,000.”