Hyderabad, Aug 1 : During the IX phase of Operation Muskaan, conducted from July 1 to 31, the police successfully rescued 2470 children, including boys and girls, across the state. Around 676 children were rescued by the Cyberabad police teams alone, as mentioned in a police statement on Tuesday. Operation Muskaan is an annual initiative conducted in the month of July to trace and rescue missing and trafficked children. Its primary objective is to locate missing children, identify those engaged in child labor, bonded labor, micro industries, begging, and trafficking, and subsequently rescue and reunite them with their families. The Telangana State Police, in coordination with all relevant departments, conducts Operation Muskaan for one month during July and Operation Smile for one month during January. The recent “Operation Muskaan – IX” was executed throughout the state from July 1 to 31, 2023, under the close supervision of the Women Safety Wing, the nodal agency for the teams. For this operation, police teams were formed in each Sub-Division comprising 753 police personnel, including one woman police officer. These teams collaborated with the Women Development and Child Welfare Department, Labor, Health, Child Welfare Committees (CWC), District Child Protection Units, and NGOs in the respective districts. A convergence meeting was held on June 26 by the Women Safety Wing, Telangana, as the Nodal Agency to ensure coordination among all stakeholders. The teams received training on the Standard Operating Procedures to be followed, relevant laws to be invoked (such as the J.J Act 2015 and Child/Bonded Labor Act), and the use of technical apps of Telangana Police, including the Facial Recognition features on the TS cop app, DARPAN, and TrackChild portal. During the course of the operation, vulnerable children were rescued from various locations, such as railway stations, bus stations, religious places, traffic junctions, mechanic shops, brick industries, construction areas, shops, tea stalls, and footpaths. Specific Daily Situation Reports were compiled to collect data, which was further analysed to identify potential “Black Spots” where vulnerable children were frequently found.
