Positive News of the Day: Noida Police launches ‘Mission Muskan’

Seemingly, with an eye on the looming Assembly Elections in Uttar Pradesh, Noida Police has initiated ‘Mission Muskan’. The aim of the district level mission is to reunite missing children with their families.

Noida Police will compile all records of the children who went missing in the district till July this year and will try and reunite them with their families. As a process to achieve this goal they will find information from children in shelter homes and will trace families of these missing children.

This recent ‘mission’ seems to have been lifted from poll pundits strategy books. The abject loss of BJP in Panchayat elections, alleged dismal performance during Covid-19, Farmers agitation and the recent political wrestling between PM Modi and CM Yogi seems to have created an emergent need to create some positive law & order initiatives which they can focus when the state goes to the polls.

Experts point out that ‘Love Jihad’, ‘Romeo Squad’, ‘Forced Conversions’, ‘Encounters’ and ‘Strong action during NRC/CAA demonstrations’ alone might not fetch them votes. The recent elections show that only those State governments which had positive and proactive attitude have reaped rich dividends electorally.

Smt Pushpanjali Devi, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) and Smt. Vrinda Shukla, DCP, Mahila Suraksha, recently had a meeting in this regard. The Noida Police Commissionarate will work on cases of 58 missing children in this regard.

Modus operandi will include Noida Police culling out as much information as possible from children residing in shelter homes through counseling and using it as means to trace their families.

Towards achieving this result, a special team has been constituted. A workshop was also organised in which District Probation Officer, Child Line representatives and NGO representatives were present.