- Sitaram traveled to Manoharpur for old school certificate verification under SIR exercise
- Sitaram, differently abled, left home 35 years ago and settled in Punjab with various jobs
- School staff contacted village people to verify Sitaram's identity during the record check
What began as a routine exercise to verify an old school record under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls turned into an emotional family reunion in Haryana's Jind, bringing together two brothers after 35 years of separation.
Sitaram, who has been living in Punjab for the past 35 years, travelled to his native village Manoharpur to obtain his old school certificate. The document was required for his SIR verification.
Sitaram, who is differently abled, had left home as a child and moved to Punjab. Over the years, he worked at different places, including as a peon at a private school, before eventually securing a Group-D government job in Punjab.
At the Government Senior Secondary School, Manoharpur, where Sitaram had studied, staff began the process of verifying his records. As part of the process, they contacted people in the village to establish his identity.
The call eventually reached his brother Krishna.
Krishna was stunned to learn that the brother he had been searching for over three decades was at the school. He immediately contacted the Booth Level Officer and confirmed that Sitaram was indeed his younger brother.
He then rushed to the school.
After 35 years, the brothers came face-to-face. They hugged each other and broke down in tears. Sitaram reportedly touched his elder brother's feet, while the emotional moment left the school staff and others present visibly moved.
The brothers later left together on a scooter, ending a three-and-a-half-decade-long separation in the most unexpected way.
Sitaram is the fifth of six brothers. After leaving Jind, he spent decades in Punjab, doing various jobs before joining the state government.
Additional Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) Dr Ramesh Kumar described the incident as a memorable experience, saying what started as an administrative verification exercise ended up reuniting two brothers who had been separated for 35 years.
A voter verification, an old school record and one phone call; three ordinary things that produced an extraordinary family reunion.
