By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR:The Women and Child Crime Prevention Branch’s special campaign ‘Operation Search’, which aims to identify, rescue and safely bring back Odisha children who are missing, engaged in child labour abroad or stuck in various child care institutions, has achieved great success. The campaign was conducted from August 28 to September 8 in collaboration with the Women and Child Development Department of the state government. A total of 101 Odisha children have been identified and rescued from 17 states. Among the rescued children, 54 are boys and 47 are girls, informed the media at a press conference by Additional Director General of Police, Women and Child Crime Prevention Branch, Mrs. S. Saini.
The campaign was conducted by 17 teams comprising DSP-level officers of Odisha Police and Legal and Probation Officers of the Women and Child Development Department in 17 states. The campaign was conducted in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, New Delhi, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Kerala.
The maximum number of children rescued was 30 from West Bengal, followed by 11 from Karnataka, 10 from Jharkhand and 10 from Tamil Nadu.
Under the supervision of Balasore Eastern Range DIAG Shri Pinak Mishra, DSP Bamadev Nanda led the rescue operation from West Bengal. Similarly, under the leadership of Berhampur South Range Ranger DSP Shri Prashant Kumar Patra, 11 children were rescued from Karnataka, under the leadership of North Central Range Ranger DSP Mrs. Jyotsnarani Behera, 10 children were rescued from Jharkhand and under the leadership of Berhampur South Range Ranger DSP Shri Girijanandan Patnaik, 10 children were rescued from Tamil Nadu. During the operation, information was collected about children missing in child trafficking cases, children employed as child laborers in foreign states and Odia children living in various child care institutions. With the cooperation of local police, raids were conducted at various labor sites and child care institutions and the children were rescued.
In this operation, 11 missing children, against whom FIRs were filed in kidnapping cases, have been rescued. Among the rescued children, there are 2 boys and 9 girls. Similarly, 7 children working as child labourers in different places have been rescued. Among them, there are 6 boys and one girl. 83 Odia children living in various Child Care Institutions (CCI) have also been identified. Among them, there are 46 boys and 37 girls. 80 children identified from CCI have been brought back to Odisha, while the process of safely bringing back others is underway. It was found that a minor girl living in a foreign state had given birth to a child there. The child is about 3 months old, and steps have been taken to bring the minor mother and the child back to Odisha together. Similarly, after it was found that a child of about 1 year old was living in a child care home, steps have been taken to identify his mother and reunite the child with her mother.
The main objective of Operation ‘Anweshan’ is to identify and rescue Odia children living in unsafe conditions in foreign states and to bring them back to their families and the state with the necessary protection and rehabilitation as per the law, said Ms. S. Saini, Additional Director General of the Crime Prevention Branch of the Women and Child Crime Branch.
