Cyberabad Police bringing smile back on faces of vulnerable children
Hyderabad: Nearly 400 lives. That is what the Cyberabad Police brought back on track in January when, as part of Operation Smile-VII, they rescued 389 children including 53 girls, who were engaged in begging, rag-picking, child labour etc..
The Cyberabad Commissionerate, which had formed teams comprising a sub-inspector, three constables and one woman constable, in each sub-division, also focused on missing cases and traced missing children in 12 cases. While 25 children were rescued from begging and four from rag picking, a total of 357 children were rescued from labour. Of the rescued, 174 children including 35 girls were handed over to their parents, the remaining 215 were shifted to shelter homes.
According to the Cyberabad Police, 140 of the rescued children were from other States including 52 from Bihar, 19 from Uttar Pradesh and 18 from Karnataka. The police also registered 105 cases under various sections related to crime against children.
The rescue operations had the police teams raiding a bangle making unit at Vattepally under the Mailardevpally police limits where 17 minor children brought from Bihar were kept in a locked room and made to work on bangles. These minors were not provided sufficient food and clothes due to which their health was affected. The wages paid to them were also found to be very less and not regularly paid either.
The rescue teams observed that the children aged between 8 years to 14 years, were made to work from dawn to dusk without any break, without a holiday while living in unhygienic conditions in small rooms without ventilation. At an amusement centre at Kothur, the Child Line team and officials from Labour department found 12 minors aged between 12 to 16 years were engaged in operating heavy loaded machinery and issuing entry tickets. The Smile-VII team apprehended the owner of the company for violation of the Child Labour Act rules.
In tracing missing children, the Cyberabad teams after a search of records came across a girl at a Home in Miyapur and rebuilt the case. The girl went missing and was found at Charminar in 2005. After perusing records of the local police for missing complaints, they traced her parents in Kurnool district. The parents visited the Home and identified the child based on identification marks.
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