Minor girl 'interested' in shamanism reunited with kin after 78 days

A 17-year-old girl with a “proven” interest in shamanism has reunited with her family after missing for 78 days, police said.

She had left her parents’ Rajajinagar home in northern Bengaluru around 8 pm on October 31, 2021, without telling anyone and taking just two pairs of clothes and Rs 2,500 in cash with her.

The girl had finished class 12 from a CBSE institution and wanted to study fashion design but couldn’t get into a good college and was said to be depressed over it.

Her harried parents looked for her everywhere before going to the police. Cops opened a case of kidnap (because she is a minor) but were unable to trace her despite their best efforts.

As a last resort, the parents took to Twitter last month and sought people’s help in tracing her.

The parents had told the police that she had of late developed an interest in shamanism and was reading up on it online. She had told her parents about her interest in shamanism many times and become a recluse. These behavioural changes prompted the parents to take her for counselling but that didn’t help much.

Shamanism is a religious practice performed by a person who is believed to have special powers to influence or control spirits so that they can come into the physical world to solve problems.

The parents suspected that someone had influenced her to go with them. The police seemed to agree as they felt that the girl was unlikely to have been kidnapped because they had been no ransom calls. Additionally, a forensic analysis of her online activities confirmed her newfound interest in shamanism.

In a dramatic turn of events, the girl called up her parents from a landline on Monday and said she was in an orphanage in Surat, Gujarat.

The parents alerted the police who were able to verify that she was indeed in the orphanage. A team of policemen along with the parents rushed to Surat and brought her back to Bengaluru.

Police are going slow on questioning the girl about why and how she left home and whether she acted at someone’s behest.

“She’s mentally disturbed. Her parents, too, want that she be given some time. We will wait for a few days before questioning her,” a senior police officer said.

The girl is also said to be deeply disturbed about the passing away of her grandfather a month ago when she was away from home.

“She got to know that her parents had approached us and that we were trying to trace her. So she herself contacted the parents. The parents have requested us not to disclose too many details,” the officer added.