The Barelal tribal disappeared from their village in 2017 and surfaced in Pakistan two years later. Uncovers the mystery of how he crossed the border into a neighboring country.
The Barelal tribal was released by Pakistan last week and returned to India via the Attari border in Punjab. (PTI photo)
After concerted efforts by the Indian government, a 40-year-old mentally unstable man lodged in a Pakistani jail returned to his village in Damoh, Madhya Pradesh.
Barelal Adivasi, a resident of Pati Sheeshpur village of Damoh district, went missing in 2017. The concerned family members had lodged a missing report but there was no clue in the matter. Two years later, the Barelal tribal came to the fore in Bahawalpur, Pakistan. He was arrested and charged with illegal entry.
Initially presumed to be a terrorist by Pakistani authorities, investigation revealed that Barelal was in fact mentally ill.
Barelal’s arrest was reported by the media in Pakistan, picked up by Indian news outlets. This brought the matter to the notice of the Government of India. Union Minister Prahlad Singh Patel and then Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath demanded his release.
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After talks between the Pakistan government and the Ministry of External Affairs, Barelal was released last week and returned to India via the Attari border in Punjab. The family members and Damroh police were at the border to pick up Barelal and brought him home on Saturday.
However, the mystery is how he ended up in Pakistan. Barelal, however, is not the first mentally challenged person from Madhya Pradesh who inexplicably migrated to the neighboring country.
Jitendra Arjunwar of Seoni, Raju Laxman of Khandwa, Budhram Marko of Dindori, Anil Kumar Saket of Rewa and Sunil Uikey of Balaghat had all visited Pakistan in the last few years. Raju and Anil are still lodged in the jails there.
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Investigation is on to find out how Barelal and others like him crossed the border into Pakistan and what happened to him in the country.
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