The auto-rickshaw driver was later felicitated at the police station. (Representational image)
A 14-year-old girl, who ran away from her home in New Delhi after being pressured by her parents to focus on studies, was reunited with her family in Maharashtra after an auto-rickshaw driver promptly alerted police, an official said on Sunday.
On Saturday morning, the auto-rickshaw driver, Raju Karwade (35), was waiting outside Vasai station in Palghar for passengers when the girl approached him and asked if she could get a room to stay in the area, Manickpur police station's senior inspector Bhausaheb K Aher said.
The driver, out of suspicion, checked the girl's identity card and enquired about her. The girl informed him that she was from New Delhi and had come here alone.
The three-wheeler driver immediately alerted a traffic cop and then took the girl to the Manickpur police station, the official said.
The girl told the police that she was from Pushp Vihar in New Delhi and ran away from her home on Friday as her mother was pressuring her to focus on studies, he said.
The police contacted the Saket police station in Delhi, where a case on charges of kidnapping was already registered by the girl's parents.
Later, the police informed the girl's parents of her whereabouts.
The girl's parents then took a flight and reached Vasai where they were reunited with their daughter late Saturday evening, the official said.
The auto-rickshaw driver was later felicitated at the police station, he added.