UDAIPUR: Life became miserable for two kids in Pratapgarh village, after their mother left them for another man and their father pledged them to a shepherd in lieu of money. Thanks to the alertness of their school principal who noticed their absence from school and followed up the case, till the kids were brought back home. The children are aged eight and ten years.The incident has been reported from Kataro ka Kheda village of Semalia Panchayat in Pipalkhoont of Pratapgarh district. The boys read in a government school in the village and had been absent for over a month.The school principal Shiv Bhagwan visited their home to inquire about their well-being. The boys’ father lied that the kids had gone over to their relatives’ home for some days, but the teacher suspected something fishy and reported the case to the childline.The childline team deployed sources to find out the truth and later, it was known that the children's mother had went to live with some other man under the tribal ‘Nata’ custom five months ago, and unable to look after them, their father pledged them to a shepherd, who took them to work in Shajapur of Madhya Pradesh With the help of the police, the shepherd was traced and warned to send back the kids home. After a month-long exercise, the kids returned on Tuesday and reported to school the next day. Sources claimed that the father had taken Rs 20,000 from the shepherd and in return, promised the children to the shepherd for rearing cattle. The kids were made to walk multiple kilometres a day barefoot and worked very hard. They were given little to eat and even beaten up on several occasions.

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