It has been the most peaceful night’s sleep for retired Haryana secretariat employee Subhash Chander, though he knows that there are miles to go before he can finally rest. Chander played an instrumental role in ensuring that Tamil Nadu resident Jattvibedari, who saw her son after 23 years, could reunite with Prakash (born Prakaasam) who she had presumed dead all these years. “I first met Prakash in May 2023 and his condition was not good. He would not talk about anything but repeat what I would say. The initial four months with him were tough and Apna Farz Seva Society volunteers also kept a lot of patience with him,” recalls Chander, who started visiting Pingalwara and NGO homes for mentally disabled in 2018. “You can imagine the plight of a person who is given two meals along with the cattle, kept chained to his iron bedding without any mat or sheet at night for over 18 years. It was only after a lot of efforts that he finally started saying something about Tamil Nadu,” says Subhash Chander, who then contacted his journalist friend named Muthaiah from Palladam area of Tiruppur district. “He was very docile and always had a little smile on his innocent face, despite the hardships he had faced. The NGO volunteers really looked after him well,” he said. The boy who ran away from his house in Tamil Nadu nearly 23 years ago, suffered various hardships — was chained and made to sleep with cattle, was held captive for over 18 years near the Indo-Pakistan border in Ajnala, before being rescued in 2022. “His condition was such that initially he would be scared to even eat a full meal. He underwent treatment and showed improvement with a lot of care and love shown to him by the volunteers at NGO Apna Farz Seva Society which rescued Prakash from Ajnala where he was working as a bonded labourer,” says Chander. “He was made to sleep with cattle, kept chained at night and was given two meals a day for looking after the cattle. He was rescued and brought to Apna Farz Seva Society shelter home in Patiala’s Lachkani village. However, him treatment took a lot of time as he had lost his mental balance due to the inhumane conditions he was subjected to,” says an NGO volunteer. On July 1, Muthaiah traced Jattvibedari and informed her about her son being alive. Later, Jattvibedari approached the Coimbatore District Collector Pawan Kumar G Kiriappanavar, who realised the mother’s struggle and made arrangements to bring Prakash from Punjab. Accordingly, documents were sent to the Patiala Deputy Commissioner and administrators of Apna Farz Seva Society in Lachkhani, Patiala. Finally, the Tamil Nadu man is back in his hometown, which has brought a lot of satisfaction to the NGO and all those who looked after him. As his story of being a slave for over 18 years and the rescue went viral, people from across various places have demanded that the Ajnala family be booked by police. Social media users are urging the Punjab Police to initiate action against the dairy farm owners of Jasraur village in Ajnala, Amritsar, who had kept him as a slave for 18 years before Pal Singh Khraud, chief sewadar of Apna Farz Sewa Society, rescued him in 2022.Finally, Prakaasam is under the care of his mother Jattvibedari in Poomalaipatti Anaikulam village in Virudhunagar district in Tamil Nadu. “It is a miracle to be able to see my son everyday now. It pains me to even think about what he went through his young life,” she says. “I am thankful to everyone who helped me get my son back,” she adds.Jattvibedari recalls how Prakash left home in 2003 after a minor misunderstanding with his parents. “We searched for him at many places but could not trace him. A couple of months later, Prakash contacted us and said that he was in Chennai. Despite earnest efforts, he was nowhere to be found, and after a few years, we presumed him dead,” says Jattvibedari.Hundreds of kilometres away, the NGO volunteers say they will miss the smile he gave after every meal.