Bengaluru: The Bengaluru Police undertook a special drive against infant and child beggars and rescued as many as 164 children in the crackdown. But police said this is only the tip of the iceberg.
The children were not more than two years of age and some were as young as eight months. Bengaluru Police and child rights workers rounded up 264 beggars in a joint operation in which 164 were children and 25 were infants.
Additional Commissioner P Harisekharan said, "They are mostly from Andhra and other states and a few of them are from Tamil Nadu as well. We have got doctors to check if anyone was drugged or any child has been harmed physically, anyone been abused. We are doing DNA test as well. If it turns out that they aren't related, or any kidnap cases, we will have to book a criminal case."
Police said these child beggars have been on their radar for the last three months. They have been observing how they operate at traffic junctions, beg on the streets and try to get the sympathy of passers-by. The rescued children will be presented before the state child welfare committee for counselling.
Harisekharan said, "At least 30 to 40 per cent are repeat offenders."
Police suspected that they have only been able to rescue half of the child beggars who operate in Bengaluru. The rest are likely to have escaped, after adults got wind of the police crackdown.
Police are also probing who forced these children into begging and how they were forced into in, as it seems like an organised racket. Besides, police are also readying an action plan in the coming weeks to follow up with these children to ensure they don't get trapped into the beggary trade yet again.
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