This information is for all those who keep saying again and again that the Modi government in Centre is doing nothing. Home Minister Rajnath Singh launched an operation for finding the missing children, which was code named as “Operation Smile” and thanks to this initiative, nineteen thousand children have been rescued by the police and many of them have been reunited with their parents.
The launch of this operation resulted in increase of efforts by the state police departments and women and child departments for finding the missing children. These missing children would have been subjected to child labor, human trafficking or prostitution if they wouldn’t have been rescued. Haryana is on the top of the list in rescuing the highest number of missing children, followed by Maharashtra.
Officials also said that the investigation has also revealed that the shelter homes are not working properly as they are not trying to find the child’s parents and a proposal might be made to amend the law under which the shelter homes come.
An Official told, “In many cases, the missing children were traced to shelter homes and their interview revealed that the shelter homes do not make an effort to reunite children with parents to lure of grants given by the government.”
He also told about a case in which an 11 year old kid, originally from Manesar, Haryana was staying in a shelter home in Delhi for 6 months. An official who was part of the operation said, “Despite giving details of his where-about, the authorities never made an effort to inform his parents.”
It was also disclosed by police that the boys were rescued more in comparison to girls who are compelled to enter the field of prostitution. A girl in Maharashtra was rescued by CID who was being trafficked for prostitution.
State governments have been asked by the Home Ministry to train their police officials at various ranks about matters concerned with missing children, POSCO Act, Juvenile Justice Act and Protection of Child Rights Acts and then they should be sent to various parts of the country such as Kolkata, Mumbai, Haridwar, Jaipur, Gurgaon and Delhi for recovering the missing kids.
The Central government is also planning to reward the officers who have performed well and also desires to publish the details of children in print and electronic media so that they can be united with their parents sooner.
Don’t forget to share your opinion about the article in the comments section below.