In a season when the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is drawing allegations of forged parenthood, missing voter names, and administrative lapses in West Bengal, one extraordinary story has risen above the noise—SIR has reunited an elderly Habra couple in North 24 Parganas with their son who vanished 26 years ago.
For Prashanta and Santwana Dutta, life once revolved around their only son, Tarun. After their daughters married, the couple depended on him while the father–son duo ran a modest paddy-trading business. But when mounting losses and aggressive creditors backed Tarun into a corner, he slipped out of the house one night without a word. He never returned.
With each passing year, hope thinned. The Duttas filed a missing diary. They searched relentlessly. But time responded with silence. As pressure from creditors grew unbearable, the elderly couple sold their land to clear Tarun’s debts. Yet their son remained nothing more than an ache—an unspoken grief folded into their daily lives.
Last month, when the SIR exercise began in the region, BLO Tapan Dhar visited the Duttas’ home with voter-application forms. In an emotional impulse, Prashanta filled out forms not only for himself and his wife but also for the son he had not seen for more than two decades.
While mapping the applications online, BLO Tapan Dhar noticed something peculiar: Tarun Dutta was already registered as a voter in West Midnapore. Startled, he contacted the BLO of that area—only to hear that the same Tarun had personally submitted his documents and was very much alive.
Also Read: LoP Adhikari accuses Bengal govt of voter roll tampering in SIR
Then came the moment that altered everything. At 8 pm that evening, through a three-way phone call between the two BLOs and Tarun’s Medinipur family, the Duttas heard their son’s voice after 26 years.
He was alive. He had settled in Midnapore. He had a college-going son of his own.
Soon after, Tarun’s son called his grandfather. Conversation flowed between two branches of a family long severed by circumstance. The Duttas assured Tarun that all his past debts had been cleared long ago. There were no creditors waiting to corner him. There was no reason to stay away anymore.
Also Read: 'You’ve dug your grave in WB by conducting SIR': Mamata to BJP
Tarun has since spoken to his sisters through video calls, and he now wishes to return to his ageing parents. For the elderly couple, this reunion is nothing short of divine intervention delivered through bureaucratic machinery.
“We thought he might be dead… or lost forever,” Prashanta said. “We searched everywhere. We never imagined SIR would bring light back into our home. Now that we’ve found our son, we can die without regret.”
In an exercise criticised for errors and omissions, this extraordinary case has revealed an unexpected, human side of the SIR process—showing that sometimes, amidst data entries and verification forms, fate writes a miracle.
Also Read: Mamata hits out at Centre over ‘forced’ SIR drive
Follow us
