A seven-year-old boy who wandered out of an apartment complex in Bhubaneswar’s Pahala area and reached the busy NH-16 was rescued by patrolling police on Wednesday morning and reunited with his family after officers traced his residential complex.
The child had been playing in the garden of an upscale apartment complex when he crossed the main gate without being stopped by security personnel. He then made his way to the national highway, where a Pahala police patrol team found him crying.
The boy’s parents realised shortly afterwards that he was missing and approached the police. They also checked CCTV footage from the apartment complex, which showed that the child had left the campus. However, the footage did not immediately reveal where he had gone.
Inspector-in-charge of Pahala police station Aswini Kumar Jena said the patrolling team found the child near the highway and brought him into their vehicle. Police officers attempted to comfort him with biscuits and water, but the boy was unable to provide his residential address.
The police then began making inquiries at nearby residential complexes. Officers visited several housing societies in the area before identifying the apartment where the child lived. He was subsequently handed over safely to his parents.
The incident placed attention on the security arrangements at residential complexes located close to major traffic corridors. According to the report, both the parents and police officers attributed the child’s escape to negligence by the apartment’s security personnel. The boy had been able to leave the premises without being noticed.
Jena said police had sensitised the security guards to remain vigilant. The action followed the child’s safe recovery and was aimed at preventing similar lapses at the complex.
The boy’s father, a branch manager at a public sector bank in Bhubaneswar, said the police intervention had prevented a potentially disastrous situation. He said the child could have faced serious danger on the highway if the patrolling team had not spotted him in time.
The case also highlights the immediate safety challenge created when residential compounds sit close to high-speed roads. In this instance, the child’s inability to communicate his address meant that the police had to identify his home through inquiries across multiple housing societies. The family was reunited only after officers connected the child to his apartment complex.
Police officers completed the handover of the child to his family after confirming the residential address. The Pahala police station said security guards at the apartment complex had been sensitised to prevent children from leaving the premises unnoticed.
