Over 200 kids rescued from begging racket

The dramatic arrests brought to the fore a well-planned and networked operation that had pushed innocent children to beggary over the last few months.

“The City police raided 282 places in the city with the help of the Women and Child Welfare Department and eight various voluntary organisations, rescued the children and sent them to rehabilitation centres. Of the rescued children, 64 were boys, 40 were girls and 106 were kids. The police took 84 women beggars and six men beggars into custody besides arresting seven others who had allegedly pushed their children into begging,” City Police Commissioner B G Jyothiprakash Mirji said Thursday.

Some of the children were drugged before they were pushed into begging. None of the rescued children had lost their vital organs due to illegal surgeries. The police department had information that many people were pressing children into begging over the last few years. The police, Women and Child Welfare Department and eight voluntary organisations discussed the matter and drafted an action plan. They identified 282 places with the help of Google maps where children used to beg. One voluntary organisation was attached to one police division. The raids began on December 2 from 10 am and concluded at 4 pm. A total of 29 teams were constituted for the raids.

Following the raids, the police arrested Ramaprasad, Jagadish, Mehboob, Mangala Bogre, Rama Swaroop, Sangamesh and Prasanna Kumar. Cases were registered against them with the Vijayanagar, Kodigehalli, Hennur, Ashoknagar, High Grounds, Ramamurthynagar, Bharathinagar, Hebbal and Byatarayanapura police. The departments concerned are taking care of food, accommodation and medical facilities of the rescued children. About 47 children were sent to schools running under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.

The beggars, child beggars and infant beggars were from Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh. They came to Bangalore and took up begging due to poverty. They earned between Rs 200 and 300 per day. It is not known whether they worked for any persons or gangs and submitted some portion of the money to them. The police have doubts regarding their native places and parents. It is not known what kind of drugs were given to the children.