Hyderabad: Cops free 445 kids from labour in just 1 month

Hyderabad: As many as 445 children, including 31 girls, were rescued as part of Operation Muskaan Phase Five in Hyderabad in July, taking the total to 4,624 children rescued in Operations Smile and Muskaan.

Seventeen teams, each led by a sub-inspector rescued the children. Of the 445 rescued children, 51 boys were sent to the Saidabad rescue home and 13 girls to the home at Nimboliadda.

Additional commissioner of police (Crimes and SIT) Shikha Goel said that Operation Smile and Muskaan are conducted twice a year as directed by the Union home ministry in January and July. This year, 872 children were rescued.

“The aim of the operation is that children should not be used for child labour, begging and other illegal activities. Children are mainly employed in kirana stores, mechanic shops and gold shops as cheap labour,” Ms Goel said. She said that there was a high probability that their parents would send the children back to work. To prevent this, parents were counselled to admit the children in schools. Thirty-one children were admitted in the social welfare residential schools.

Hyderabad police commissioner Anjani Kumar said, “All stake-holders made coordinated efforts to rescue the children.”