Operation Muskan rescues 664 children across Cyberabad in July

Cyberabad police rescued 664 children, most of them engaged in child labour, during the month-long Operation Muskan-XII carried out across the Commissionerate in July.

The special drive, conducted from July 1-31, focused on tracing missing children and rescuing children from child labour, begging, rag-picking and other forms of exploitation. Seven special teams, each comprising a Sub-Inspector, four police constables and a woman police constable, carried out inspections at industries, companies, shops and other establishments, besides conducting drives to identify children in distress.

Details of rescued children were uploaded on the Darpan app.

Of the 664 children rescued, 644 were boys and 20 girls. As many as 655 children were rescued from child labour, eight from unauthorised madrasas and one was identified as a street dweller. No child beggar was found.

Police said that 502 of the rescued children were from other States, while 162 belonged to Telangana. Bihar accounted for the highest number of rescued children from outside the State with 135, followed by Uttar Pradesh (89), Andhra Pradesh (47), Jharkhand (43), West Bengal (40), Rajasthan (30) and Odisha (29). Four rescued children were from Nepal.

Following counselling and verification, 632 children were reunited with their parents, while the remaining 32 were produced before the Child Welfare Committee and shifted to shelter homes.

During the operation, Cyberabad police registered 125 cases under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015, and the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act 2016. Police also uploaded photographs of children in 108 missing person cases on the Darpan portal to aid identification and reunification.