Cyberabad police rescue 664 children in Operation Muskan-XII, book 125 cases
HYDERABAD: Cyberabad police rescued 664 children, including 655 child labourers, during the month-long Operation Muskan-XII conducted across the commissionerate in July, according to a press note issued by the Women & Children Safety Wing.
Of the rescued children, 644 were boys and 20 girls. Police handed over 632 children to their parents, while 32 were sent to shelter homes.
Seven teams conduct checks across establishments
Cyberabad police conducted Operation Muskan-XII from July 1 to 31 to trace missing children and rescue those involved in child labour, begging, rag picking and other vulnerable situations.
Seven teams were formed for the operation, each comprising a sub-inspector, four police constables and a woman police constable. The teams conducted checks at industries, companies, shops, construction sites and other establishments. They also carried out a special drive to identify children engaged in begging.
Details of rescued children were uploaded to the Darpan app.
Police said 655 of the 664 rescued children were engaged in child labour. One was classified as a street child and eight were placed in the “others/unauthorised madrasa” category. No child was recorded under the begging category.
Of the rescued children, 162 were from Telangana 159 boys and three girls while 502 were from outside the state, comprising 485 boys and 17 girls.
Bihar accounts for 135 rescued children
After Telangana’s 162 children, Bihar accounted for the highest number of rescued children at 135, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 89 and Andhra Pradesh with 47.
Police rescued 43 children from Jharkhand, 40 from West Bengal, 30 from Rajasthan, 29 from Odisha, 26 from Chhattisgarh and 20 from Karnataka.
Another 16 children were from Madhya Pradesh, eight each from Assam and Maharashtra, and two from Uttarakhand. Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab and Tamil Nadu accounted for one child each. Four children were from Nepal.
Of the 644 rescued boys, 616 were handed over to their parents and 28 were sent to shelter homes. Among the 20 girls, 16 were reunited with their parents and four were sent to shelter homes.
125 cases registered during month-long operation
Police registered 125 cases in connection with crimes against children during Operation Muskan-XII.
According to the press note, the cases were booked under Section 146 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Sections 75 and 79 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, and Section 14 of the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, as amended in 2016.
Photographs of children in 108 missing cases were also uploaded to the Darpan app, police said.
The Cyberabad Police website confirms that its Women & Children Safety Wing includes an Anti-Human Trafficking Unit dealing with child labour, organised begging, trafficking and missing children.
