Boy rescued from tea stall lived on 1 burger a day

I was given only one burger to eat everyday after I finish my work at the tea stall,” said 12-year-old Shyam (name changed) who was rescued under “Operation Smile 2”. During the operation, more than 1000 missing children in the NCR region were rescued.

The one-month operation brought smiles back to many children’s faces and tears of joy to parents who had lost all hope of seeing their missing children again. The story of Shyam, who was rescued from Sector 50 in Noida, is an example of the dark side of child labour. Nine months ago Shyam, a resident of Bijnor, ran away from home after being beaten up by his mother when he failed in Class VI. Revealing how he reached the tea stall, Shyam said he had gone to the railway station and took a train after which he landed up in Delhi. “A man took him to the tea stall after which he started working there,” said Noida police. Talking about the rescue operation, a senior Noida police official told The Statesman that when the team found the boy working at the tea stall they got suspicious.

“When we asked the boy about his relation with the tea stall owner he said the owner was his uncle as he was so afraid of the owner,” said Kiran. The team investigated the matter and finally rescued the child after which the boy admitted to the police that the owner was not his uncle. He was working there by force and wanted to go home. “I was given only one burger to eat everyday after I finished my work,” Shyam told the police. Another heart touching story was of a mother who had lost hope of seeing her daughter who went missing in 2012. Anju (name changed), a mentally disturbed girl, who was playing outside her home and got lost.

The missing case was all set to be closed but police got a tip-poff about a girl in a Ghaziabad shelter home. When the team reached the home, they found that girl had gone to a shelter home in Vrindavan. “In the shelter home the girl spoke about Vrindavan so the caretakers thought she is from that area and sent her there,” said police. With the help of modern technology and innovative thinking police made a sketch of the girl as she would look three years later.

“When we reached the shelter home we found a girl who matched the sketch after which we called her mother,” said police. “I had lost all hope that my daughter will return but one day I was busy in household work when Noida police informed me that my daughter had been found. I did not believe them but when the police personnel showed me her photo I could not control my tears. Yes it was my daughter,” said the mother. Noida SSP Kiran S told The Statesman that even after the conclusion of Operation Smile, their efforts to search for missing children will continue.
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