Bengaluru: As part of ‘Operation Smile’, to rescue children from begging on the streets, the city police and some NGOs rescued 284 beggars, including 190 children, on Thursday. Those rescued also include 86 women and eight men.
All of the rescued have been brought to the Bala Mandiras of the government organisation. “With the approval of the Women and Children Department, we have lodged all the infants and children at a particular home and holding one-to-one questioning session with them to ascertain what compelled them to take up begging. The questioning will take a day or two,” said P. Harisekaran, Additional Commissioner of Police, East Zone to Deccan Chronicle.
“During questioning, if any hint of kidnapping, sexual violence, or any kind of physical violence is found, cases will be registered. The police will also question the adult beggars to ascertain if the children and infants are really theirs. If they are not, legal action will be taken against them and the children will be sent to government homes for rehabilitation. If it is found that the parents are using their own children, then those families will be produced before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) members and further action will be taken according to the committee’s orders,” said Harisekaran. The police will also investigate if any organised gang was at work, he added.
“In majority of the cases, the infants are made to seek alms by their own parents. I have questioned over 30-40 children as well as their parents at Bosco Home in South division, and majority of them are from Andhra Pradesh. They belong to nomadic tribes from different communities and they go in search of fairs and festivals. They inflict injuries on their own body and beg for a living,” the Additional Commissioner said. These people believe that begging is their occupation and every child earns between 50 and 100 rupees a day, he added.
The Operation Smile was launched at 8 am and went on till 6 pm. Around 1,000 people, including 10 identified NGOs, members of the department of women and child welfare development, Child Welfare committee members, and special juvenile police units took part. There were 70 teams that worked at seven police divisions. “There are chances that around 20% of beggars would have escaped from us,” said Harisekaran. The police commissioner will send a comprehensive report with statistics to the government.
