Odisha Police Launch Pan-India Drive to Rescue Missing Children

In a big interstate crackdown, the Crime Against Women and Children Wing (CAW&CW) of the Odisha Crime Branch has finalized a strict Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to launch a nationwide special rescue drive. This operation will run from May 21 to May 30, as reported by the Times of India.
The Crime branch is aiming to track down and rescue missing children from Odisha who’ve ended up far from home and are thought to be stranded outside the state.

Investigators have found that many of these missing kids travel well beyond Odisha’s borders. Too often, they end up exploited—working as domestic help or forced into hard labor at construction sites, hotels, and restaurants. To zero in on the problem, CAW&CW gave each police range two particular regions outside Odisha to focus on.

For this operation, they’ve formed high-level teams—each with 11 specialists. An Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) heads up each group, backed by two Deputy Superintendents (DSPs), other inspectors, Sub-Inspectors or Assistant Sub-Inspectors, and four constables. When these teams get to their assigned territories, they’ll split into two groups, making sure every subgroup has at least two female officers to handle cases involving minors with care.

These rescue teams will work with intel-driven lists of missing kids, prepared by the CAW&CW. They’ll check out child care institutions, compare records with the national Mission Vatsalya portal, and work closely with local Child Welfare Committees. They’ll also build local connections—talking to labor officers, district child protection officers, and even Odia associations in the area—to get information from labor colonies where missing kids could be working.

This operation comes with tight rules and clear deadlines. Senior police officers—Range Inspectors General (IGPs) and Deputy Inspectors General (DIGs)—have to brief their teams three days before they leave. These top officers will track how the teams are doing each day during the 10-day drive, and they’ll turn in their final reports on rescues and team performance to the Crime Branch by June 5, 2026.