Hyderabad: Bringing smiles on children's faces

Hyderabad: 'Operation Smile' and 'Operation Muskaan' initiatives by the Hyderabad city police have truly brought smiles on faces of thousands of children.

In a heartening move, the city police rescued as many as 2,779 children as part of these initiatives. Operation Smile is conducted from January to June and operation Muskaan from July to December.

Speaking to The Hans India, Anjani Kumar, the Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad, said, "So far, under the Operation Smile, 49 girl children have been rescued and under Operation Muskaan 55 girl children were freed from bondage. A large number of rescue operations were conducted, based on the information provided by the general public.

I request all the citizens to kindly share any such incidents information with Hyderabad city police and nearby SHOs immediately."

As far as year-wise break-up is concerned, 746 children were freed in 2017, 772 children in 2018, 874 children in 2019, and 387 children till date this year.

Md Imtiyaz, a child right activist working with the cops on this initiative, says, "As missing children cases are increasing day-by-day across the city, to trace out the same, Operation Smile and Operation Muskaan were started in collaboration with the women and child welfare department.

Earlier when we started the project, most of the kids we rescued from other cities were under six years. Now most of the rescued children are above 14 years from different cities.

If we rescue a child that is from another city, we get in touch with the women and welfare department of the state concerned through the Commissioner and share all details and address of the kid and later he is sent back to his home."