HYDERABAD: As many as 3,600 children were rescued by the Telangana police in January under their initiative called Operation Smile, launched on January 1. The month-long programme is aimed at tracing missing children and rescue them from child labour, begging and trafficking.
“Each team consisting of a sub-inspector and four police constables including one women officer in each sub-division, in coordination with women and child welfare department, labour, health, child welfare committees (CWC), district child protection unit, NGOs and shelter homes participated in this operation,” IG (Law and Order) Swati Lakra said.
The teams will hand over the children to shelter homes if there is no proper address of the family members. If any child was found working in a hotel or restaurant, then cases will be booked against the management under relevant Acts. A unique feature of Operation Smile-VI had been extensive usage of technology by rescue teams in the form of facial recognition apps on TS Cop as well as Darpan.