Some of the parents were not convinced and arrived at Meherabad to remove their sons from the school and take them home.
By February, seven of the Hindu children had been removed from the Meher Ashram school. Some of the Muslim parents from Bombay also came, demanding the return of their children. The mandali tried to explain the facts of the situation and in some cases were successful in persuading the parents to allow their boys to remain in the ashram.
Occasionally, Baba would call some of the boys and listen to them reading their lessons, but he had never once called Ali Akbar Shapurzaman ( Aloba ). One morning at nine, however, Baba suddenly called him. Seated at the door of the underground cabin, Baba told him to bring his English and Persian books. Raosaheb was also called. Baba asked Shapurzaman to read a sentence, which Baba himself selected, from each book. After he finished, Baba signaled for him to go. No one knew why the Master had done this on this particular day, but at four that afternoon it became clear when Shapurzaman's uncle from Bombay arrived in a tonga and demanded that both his nephew and his son be handed over to him. Thus after being in the ashram for ten months, Shapurzaman left for Bombay.
Age noted regretfully, "Aloba and his cousin were forced to leave the Abode of Love, but no one could take away their love. Their awakened hearts were breaking, but their spirits were uniting with the Beloved, who fulfills such sincere longing with his constant presence."
On Friday, 17 February 1928, Baba mentioned that two of the boys, Aga Ali and Muhammad Hussein, were almost ready for a spiritual push, requiring only "the last touch." There was a long discussion with Raosaheb, Buasaheb, and Baidul about these two boys, whose fathers had not yet signed the agreement (regarding keeping their sons in the ashram for a stipulated period of time). Suddenly that morning, Muhammad Hussein's elder brother came to take him and another boy, Abbas Ali, away from the ashram. Baba became very sad and serious when he was informed, and retired inside, refusing to see any of the visitors and telling all to leave.
Hussein began crying loudly and tried to run away. As the tonga was about to drive away that evening, the boy jumped down and Raosaheb had to catch him. His brother was angry and beat him severely, making him sit once again in the tonga.