Chandigarh: During the first three weeks of the ongoing ‘Operation Smile’, Haryana Police has traced/rescued/rehabilitated 1,308 children including child beggars/labourers who were reported missing from different parts of the country. These include 536 missing children, 300 child beggars and 472 child labourers.
In addition, the police have also searched and reunited 493 missing adults with their families under the campaign.
Aiming to trace missing children and also curbing the child trafficking menace, a month-long program ‘Operation Smile’ was launched on April 1 and would continue till April 30.
“We are committed to protecting the rights of our children and ensuring their safety and well-being. The success of ‘Operation Smile’ is a testament to the dedication and hard work of our police personnel, as well as the support and cooperation of all stakeholders. We will continue to work tirelessly to trace and rescue missing children and combat the scourge of child trafficking,” said DGP Haryana PK Agrawal.
A police spokesperson said that under ‘Operation Smile’, is engaged in tracing and recovering missing children and adults and handing them over to their families. In the last 3 weeks, the positive results of the hard work of the state police have started coming to the fore. In the third week itself, the combined efforts of all the districts and the Anti Human Trafficking Unit teams have succeeded in reuniting 212 missing children and 192 adults with their families. Out of the total, 177 missing children have been reunited with their families by the district police and 35 children by the AHTU units.