Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Nearly 12 years after going missing, Seema (name changed), who disappeared from home in November 2013 at age 13, was recently traced under Operation Muskan. Her mother had filed a kidnapping complaint at Piplani police station, but there had been no trace of her for over a decade.
During the operation, police gathered information from relatives and tracked Seema to Chennai. She is now 26, married, and a mother. Seema told police she had left home voluntarily and later married her lover from Raisen after reaching legal age.
Police said that under Operation Muskan, several long-missing and abducted girls have been traced. Legal action in these cases is often complicated, as many girls have married and started families. Police often refrain from taking action to avoid breaking up families.
A similar case involved a girl missing for over two years and four months, traced by Awadhpuri police. She disappeared at 16 and is now an adult, married, and expressed no desire for further investigation.
Under Operation Muskan 2, police have recovered girls in at least eight old and several recent kidnapping cases. Earlier, Operation Muskan 1 also revealed instances of missing girls who had married during the intervening years. Police said that families sometimes learn about such marriages but do not inform authorities, causing cases to remain pending for years.
Despite these challenges, officials said rescue and tracing efforts under Operation Muskan will continue.
