Op Muskan-V: Most of the children rescued by Cyberabad police had fake Aadhaar cards

Surprisingly, all the children carried Aadhar cards in which their date of birth was recorded to be 01-01-2000, 01-01-2001 and all these cards had month and day of birth as January 1, said police.

Asked if the same agent or middlemen racket could be behind this organised crime of creating fake aadhar cards, DCP(Women and Children Safety Wing) C Anasuya told indianexpress.com that the matter is being investigated. “This is the first time we have come across such a thing. Most of the children had fake aadhar cards. It could be a modus operandi followed by the middlemen to get children at workplaces,” she said.

In a similarly bizarre instance, among the rescued were three HIV positive children — aged 10, 11 and 12. They were forced into begging on streets by their relatives who took their custody after parents died suffering from HIV/AIDS. They were not given any food to eat unless they brought at least Rs 1,500 a day. The children used to travel to different locations by metro and beg for alms. “The children were living with their maternal uncle and his family. He thought of them as a burden and wanted to make money instead,” said the DCP.

As many as 541 children were rescued by Cyberabad police in the month of July 2019, as part of Operation Muskaan-V.

The Cyberabad police also stood first in the number of FIRs registered, with 247 cases registered under various sections concerned to crime against children u/s 374 IPC, 75, 79 Juvenile Justice Act 2015 and u/sec 14 of Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act 2016. Of the rescued 541 children, 483 were boys.

According to police, nine trained police teams led by DCP Anasuya screened and rescued vulnerable children. Particulars of such identified children have been checked and uploaded in Facial Recognition App i.e., DARPAN. A unique feature has been the use of technology by rescue teams in the form of Facial Recognition App on TS Cop as well as DARPAN. Also with database being developed, repeat incidents involving children in child labour is noticed which will be monitored further with the help of departments concerned, said police in a statement.

The idea was to trace out the missing children, children involved in child labour, bonded labour, micro industries, begging and trafficked children, rescue them and restore them to their parents and family members.

Explaining the plight of children who were forced to work, police said that they were made to work for more than 12 hours without a break, they were living in unhygienic condition in small rooms without ventilation, devoid of any proper diet they were given only a meal of rice and watery dal twice a day. They did not have any holiday. Middlemen paid a meager Rs 10,000 to the parents of the children and brought them from Bihar, Jharkhand, Odissa, Assam and other States.

According to police, the children were suffering from malnutrition, stunted growth and other health issues. The children working in metal welding work got their hands and eyes badly affected, and children working in cotton spinning mill were suffering from bronchitis, covered with fine dust from head to toe. In some of the industries, day time work was being done by adult workers and children were made to work during night.