The Bihar government on Friday intervened to help a 15-year-old boy from Kishanganj who had walked almost 150km from Jind, clutching his severed left forearm, before being rescued from Nuh last month.
The teenager had been injured while working on a motorised fodder-cutting machine in Jind, where he was allegedly kept as forced labour. His employer abandoned him after the accident, prompting him to begin the long trek home to Bihar’s Kishanganj — over 1,000km away — on foot.
On July 29, while trudging barefoot in the rain along the Nuh–Tauru road atop Panchgaon hill, clad only in his underwear, and his poorly bandaged stump bleeding, the boy was spotted by two government schoolteachers Arvind Kumar and Rakesh Kumar. His one-word reply — “Bihar” — when asked where he was headed, stunned them.
The teachers took the boy to Nuh Sadar police station, where assistant sub-inspector Kamal Singh gave him clothes and helped trace his family in Kishanganj, Bihar. Police believe he had been kept somewhere in Jind before starting the long walk after his employer abandoned him following the accident.
Bihar labour resources department secretary Deepak Anand told HT on Friday that the state would extend all necessary support for the boy’s treatment and rehabilitation. “I have directed our officials in Delhi to contact the family. The boy will get all our support,” he said, thanking HT for bringing the case to light.
Within hours, Bihar’s joint labour commissioner in Delhi wrote to the Nuh deputy commissioner and superintendent of police, directing immediate financial and legal aid for the boy and arrangements for his repatriation.
Doctors at PGIMS, Rohtak, said his condition remains serious, with infection spreading in the remaining part of his arm.
A doctor, who did not wish to be named, said they had initially planned surgery on Thursday evening to further amputate the boy’s injured arm to prevent the potentially fatal spread of infection. “However, a senior doctor advised that the wound be cleaned regularly for the next couple of days in an attempt to avoid further amputation. If there is no sign of improvement, we may still have to operate to save his life,” the doctor said.
The boy’s elder brother, Jitendra Kumar, said the family is struggling to meet medical and dietary needs, spending about ₹1,000 a day. His father borrowed ₹15,000 to reach Rohtak, while Jitendra borrowed another ₹10,000 from friends. “We are in dire need of financial help,” he said, adding that some officials “posed for cameras and left without offering real assistance.”
Arvind, one of the teachers who rescued the boy, said he had offered financial help to the family on humanitarian grounds. He declined to disclose the amount, adding that his only wish was for the boy to recover. “I’m doing whatever I can, but someone needs to step in to save him,” he said. “The day we found him, we feared he wouldn’t survive even another day if his infected, severed arm went untreated.”
.