Prakash had been chained and forced to work without wages on a dairy farm since being trafficked as a teenager in 2003.

An emotional mother-son reunion left the onlookers in tears as years of separation ended with a heartfelt embrace. The long-awaited meeting was marked by tears of joy, smiles, and overwhelming emotions as the mother held her son close after spending 23 years apart.

This was not a scene from a Bollywood, Pollywood or Tollywood movie, but a real-life moment of overwhelming emotion witnessed at the premises of Apna Farz Sewa Society, a rehabilitation shelter in Lachkani village of Patiala district. The touching reunion between a mother and her son from Tamil Nadu unfolded before the shelter’s Punjabi staff, attendants and other residents, leaving many in tears. Their heartfelt embrace served as a powerful reminder of the enduring bond between a mother and her child, and of the hope that rehabilitation and family reconciliation can bring.

“There wasn’t a single day when I didn’t remember him and cry. I had begun to believe my eldest son was dead. When I suddenly learned, after 23 years, that he was alive, my joy knew no bounds. When I finally spoke to him on the phone after all these years, I broke down in tears.” Those words, spoken through tears by 68-year-old R. Sundari, capture the end of a journey that began more than two decades ago when her teenage son disappeared without a trace.

Today, after 23 years of uncertainty, hope has returned to the family. Sundari’s son, Prakash, has been found alive and is currently under the care of Apna Farz Sewa Society, a rehabilitation shelter in Lachkani village of Punjab’s Patiala district.
On July 13, Sundari, a resident of Neelambur in Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu, approached the Coimbatore District Collector during a public grievance meeting, seeking official assistance to reunite with her missing son.

Originally from Poomalaipatti village in Virudhunagar district, Sundari and her late husband, Rammurthy, had moved to Coimbatore nearly three decades ago in search of work. They had two sons—Prakash and Prabhu.Praka sh studied up to Class 
In 2003, when he was around 16 years old, an argument at home changed the family’s life forever.

“We had recently bought a two-wheeler. They quarrelled over who would ride it. My younger son said it belonged to him. After the argument, Prakash stormed out of the house. We searched everywhere, but he never came back.”The family immediately filed a missing person’s complaint.

About two months later, Prakash briefly contacted a grocery shop near their home, informing the shopkeeper that he was in Chennai. He never spoke directly to his family again. “We believed he would eventually return because he was old enough to look after himself. But he never did,” Sundari recalled. The family later shifted to Neelambur. Prakash’s father, Rammurthy, who worked as an electrician and watchman, died of cancer in 2021.

To support herself, Sundari leased a small piece of farmland where she grows vegetables and rears a few cows. Her younger son, Prabhu, continues to live with her. Despite the hardships, Sundari never stopped searching. She always prayed for his well-being. “Whenever I saw someone lying on the roadside, I would go closer to check if it was my son. Wherever I travelled, my eyes were always searching for him.”

“He told me my son was living in a shelter home in Punjab after being rescued. Initially, I couldn’t believe him. But when he showed me my son’s photograph, I knew immediately that it was him.” The revelation came after years of painstaking efforts to trace Prakash’s family. Parkash, when rescued as bonded labour by Apna Farz Sewa Society

Journalist Muthaiya told that the search began after retired Haryana Legislative Assembly Secretary Subhash Chander shared information about a man from Tamil Nadu living in a shelter in Punjab. Initially, Prakash remembered very little. He could only say his name was “Prakash” and that he belonged to Tamil Nadu. Whenever asked which town he came from, he would simply answer, “Mumbai.”As months passed, his memory gradually improved.

Parkash was chained to an iron rod bed at village Jasraur in Ajnala tehsil district Amritsar when rescued by Apna Farz Sewa Society in 2022. Eventually, he recalled the name of his ancestral village—Poomalaipatti near Aruppukottai.Using those clues, Muthaiya travelled extensively across Virudhunagar district, speaking with local residents until he finally obtained the phone number of Vasuki, Sundari’s niece.

She informed him that Sundari was now living in Neelambur. When Muthaiya reached her home and showed her Prakash’s photograph, the mystery that had lasted 23 years finally came to an end. On July 1, Muthaiya, Prakash’s younger brother Prabhu and their neighbour Sundaralingam travelled by train to Punjab. They reached Apna Farz Sewa Society in Lachkani village, where Prakash had been living since his rescue in 2022.

Despite the emotional reunion, the NGO declined to allow Prakash to return immediately. The shelter management insisted on official identity verification before handing him over to the family.“We wanted to ensure that even the smallest mistake did not result in Prakash being sent into an unsafe environment,” the organisation said. The family was advised to obtain official documents proving their relationship.

Following Sundari’s petition, Coimbatore District Collector Pavankumar G. Giriyappanavar, IAS, initiated a comprehensive verification process. Officials from the Labour Department, School Education Department and Coimbatore Corporation searched decades-old records.

Parkash mother along with Tamil Sangam Chandigarh officials, Journalist Muthaiya, Haryana govt retired official Subhash Chander, Tamil Nadu Labour department official outside DC Patiala office before leaving for Apna Farz Sewa Society
Prakash’s younger brother personally visited the Punjab shelter on July 5, 2025, and identified him. Sundari later confirmed his identity during a WhatsApp video call.

Authorities also matched school admission records, old ration cards and current family records. A Native Verification Certificate issued by the Virudhunagar District Administration confirmed that Sundari and Prakash are natives of Poomalaipatti village.
The Collector personally took interest in this case and has written to the Deputy Commissioner of Patiala seeking administrative assistance to facilitate Prakash’s safe repatriation and rehabilitation. He verified all the required documents for smooth handing over-taking over Parkash’s custody.

According to ApnaFarzSewaSociety, Lachkani, headed by PalKharoud, Prakash was rescued in 2022 from a village Jasraur in Ajnala Tehsil in Punjab’s Amritsar district, where he had allegedly spent around two decades as a bonded labourer.
The NGO said that he worked without wages on a dairy farm, was kept in chains, slept on a bare iron cot with only a blanket, and was locked inside a room every night.

When he was rescued, he was traumatised and barely able to speak.Months of counselling and rehabilitation gradually helped him regain his memory. The shelter has left it to Prakash and his family to decide whether they wish to pursue legal action against those allegedly responsible for his exploitation or seek compensation.

What began as the disappearance of a 16-year-old boy has become an extraordinary story of hope, perseverance and inter-state cooperation. Parkash with her mother along with Aarvind Kumar, Punjab cadre IAS, DC Patiala Himanshu Aggarwal, IAS, Tamil Sangam Chandigarh officials, Journalist Muthaiya, Haryana govt retired official Subhash Chander, DSSO Patiala official, volunteers of Apna Farz Sewa Society, Lachkani at DC Patiala office.

A retired civil servant, a journalist who spent three years tracing a family, a Punjab-based NGO that rescued a vulnerable man, and government officials in Tamil Nadu and Punjab have together made possible a reunion that once seemed impossible. For Sundari, however, the story is much simpler. After believing for more than two decades that her eldest son had died somewhere unknown, she now waits for the day she can finally hold him in her arms once again.

“I am pleased to inform you that 39-year-old Prakash, a native of Tamil Nadu, has been reunited with his family today after being separated from them for nearly 23 years. According to the information available, he went missing from his home as a teenager and eventually reached Punjab under unknown circumstances. Preliminary findings suggest that he was allegedly forced to work as a bonded labourer in Jasraur village, in the Ajnala subdivision of Amritsar district.I have directed officials of the Labour Department and the Social Security, Women and Child Development Department in Patiala to ensure that the victim receives all compensation and rehabilitation benefits admissible under the law. They have also been instructed to initiate appropriate legal proceedings against those accused of keeping him in bonded labour, so that those responsible are brought to justice,” the official said.