How An IPS Officer Led The Rescue Of An Infant From Trafficking?

Rema Rajeshwari, an IPS Officer in Telangana, along with her team of impeccable officers successfully rescued a 2-month old girl from a human trafficking racket and reunited her with her family. To achieve something so heroic, an intricately advanced system needs to be put in place. Every clue is a blessing, each lead, a hope.

Therefore, Ms Rema Rajeshwari shared with Live Law the details of her modus operandi which led her to a successful outcome in such a sensitive and complicated operation.

On July 13 a mother was sleeping with her four young children in the premises of the Madrassa compound. She woke up to the horror of her two-month old baby girl being absent; only to find her being kidnapped by a group of men moving away in an autorickshaw. She tried her best to chase the vehicle down, but her efforts ended in vain. She along with her husband immediately went to the Police Station and a case was registered. Subsequently, a special team was formed with the SP's Task force and SHO, Mahabubnagar I-Town PS took up investigation

Whenever a missing case is reported, the police spring into action instantly. FIR is lodged right away, a photograph of the missing child is collected from the parents and then a message is flashed to the neighboring districts and states with an alert message. The details (victim details and photo) are also uploaded in the CCTNS(Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System). Information is uploaded in the 'missing child portal' too. The police team keeps checking for updates about any child traced anywhere in the country.

WhatsApp is used locally to spread the word. The photograph of the missing child is flashed across different local groups with an appeal to inform the police whenever they come across any child seen to be taken in a suspicious manner.

In this particular case, the parents could not provide the team with any photograph of the child as she was only 2 months old. So, they had to intensify their local human intelligence network. As the only clue given by the mother was that she saw an auto leaving around midnight after she noticed that her child was missing, the said unit deployed teams in Mahabubnagar town to check almost 500 autos operating in the area. Investigation proved that the main accused was an auto driver and he used that auto to kidnap the child.

The crime constables activated their local informers to gather inputs about any new sighting of young babies in the locality. That is how they tracked the fourth accused who purchased the child. She was an old lady and her daughter was childless for many years. Neighbors saw the presence of an infant in their house and when a local informer was making inquiries on behalf of the police, they immediately passed on the information. Ms Rajeshwari's team kept observing that house throughout the night and the next day when the old lady stepped out along with the child they apprehended her. Eventually all the accused persons were arrested.

In the meantime, her teams went to Hyderabad city to search all the railway stations and bus stations. Beggars were verified regarding the same. The team also went to Raichur in Karnataka and Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh as these are the major cities close to Mahabubnagar District.

The team also checked the criminal database for all the past offenders who were involved in kidnapping/abduction cases and checked their current doings individually. All the patrolling vehicles carried out random checking of buses to look for infants.

Ms Rajeshwari also pointed out that they have over 100 CCTV cameras installed in town. Crime team checked the footages of all the cameras, the recordings were scanned on all possible routes, transit and destinations.

The chargesheet is being filed now. The CDOs (Court Duty officers) ensure that conviction is assured in such cases by closely pursuing the trial. Every saturday, CDOs conduct a meeting with SHOs to discuss the trial stage of such cases, witnesses are thoroughly briefed and produced before the court so that they don't turn hostile.

We congratulate Ms Rema Rajeshwari IPS and her team for not only successfully solving the case but also for setting the standard of efficient and effective policing in the country. This story is not just exemplary of dedicated and disciplined work but is also a valuable learning resource for future lawyers and police officers.