The last two months will remain etched forever in the memory of 12-year-old Prakash Singh. Separated from his loved ones, Prakash lived on the Mathura station and was forced to beg on the station and in trains.

He was kidnapped from outside his school and taken to Mathura. He was finally rescued from Jalandhar after relentless efforts by his father, Ramnath Singh, an auto-driver.

According to Prakash, he was kidnapped by four men from outside Sri Ram Model High School in Faridabad on July 21. They drugged him and took him to Mathura, where he was joined by four other children.

“We were kept under the supervision of one Shanker, a cobbler who lived on the platform,” said Prakash. “He would ask us to beg on the platform. Shanker set my school uniform and my books on fire and forced me to wear torn clothes. Since I had no clue of what needed to be done, he would often beat me when I failed to give results.”

To hide his identity, the kidnappers shaved off his head and tattooed the letter ‘R’ on his right forearm. Prakash is scarred all over and complains of loss of vision in the right eye due to torture. “Shanker would burn me and hit me on the head with an iron rod,” said the traumatised child. “To ensure we did not slip away at night, they would drug us. I was not given food on most nights since we were all were supposed to earn for him and get a share.”

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