Operation Smile: Telangana Police rescues 5,000 children, reunites 3,000 with family

Hyderabad: In a month long 'Operation Smile' conducted by the Telangana police, over 5,000 children have been rescued and nearly 3,000 have been reunited with their families from different parts of the country in January.

The children were rescued from various public places and even from areas where they were forced into bonded labour.

Statistic revealed that every day hundreds of children go missing and often landed in the murkier world of crime and exploited by the child traffickers. For many such missing children, the Telangana Police has emerged as a ray of hope and savior.

Many lost in public places like railway stations, bus stand, footpaths, while others are forced to work as bonded labourers at places like bangle making units, roadside tea stalls etc where they face hazardous living or working conditions.

During the first phase of 'Operation Smile' in January, 2015 nearly 5,531 children were rescued across Telangana. Among them, 2,966 children were already united with their families and 57 missing children were traced through 46 missing FIRs.

Sources said, the police so far have lodged 448 cases under various sections under Child Labour and Justice Juvenile Act against several people.

Speaking to CNN-IBN, Soumya Mishra, IGP-CID, Telangana Police said, "We have formed 83 police teams to rescue children from states like Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Rajasthan etc. They were taken illegally and exploited by the keepers. We reunited these rescued children with their families. Some of them were kept in shelter homes".

The Telangana police department is working in co-ordination with Child Welfare Committees and various NGOs to ensure other children are also reunited with families.

Either kidnapped, lost or abandoned-children who were subjected to exploitation and abuse are also given counseling sessions to come over the trauma.

Last year the Telangana police rescued over 5,200 children. The initiative is not only bringing smiles on many faces but is also a step towards creating a child friendly society.