Hubballi: Fifteen-year-old girl Umashree Madar, who had run away with her three friends from Arekurahatti village in Navalgund taluk, was traced in Goa and was brought back on Saturday.
The girls were handed over to their parents after counselling by an NGO.
Umashree, a ninth standard student at the government high school in the village, got angry and ran away after her grandmother scolded her for ignoring her studies. Three other girls, who accompanied her, are in the eighth standard in the same school.
Umashree complained to her three friends that her grandmother pestered her to study harder. One of her friends Laxmi Madar advised her to run away to Goa, find a job and live a happier life. Laxmi also agreed to accompany Umashree and two other friends, Kaveri Byahatti and Sangeetha Kambali.
On Friday morning, they told their parents that they were going to the school to attend a programme. Umashree had also taken away Rs 900 kept at home by her father – a KSRTC driver. All the four reached the Hubballi bus stand, and from there took a bus to Margao by paying a fare of Rs 660.
Once in Margao, they asked around with Kannada speaking people about finding jobs. Someone directed them to the Bhoothnath temple nearby. But when they did not find anything to do for a long time, the girls, left with only '250 in their pockets, panicked.
One of the girls, who had seen a Kannada television serial where a runaway girl faced a similar problem, called her uncle around 10 pm on Friday from a mobile phone borrowed from one of the local residents. As they were all scared that they would be taken to task by their parents, the girl concocted a story that they were kidnapped by some men. The police were alerted and the girls were traced within 24 hours.
“The girls are good friends and they played and ate together at school. One of the girls ran away from home with her friends after she was scolded by her grandmother. The high school headmaster filed a missing complaint on Friday night at the Navalgund police station. We counseled the parents as the girls are very sensitive,” said Superintendent of Police Dharmendra Kumar Meena.
