In a bid to prevent child abductions in Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam, police have introduced ‘child tags’ in the premises of the famous temple.
The temple, which is visited by lakhs of devotees every day, has seen a rise in abductions in recent times.
Last week, an 18-month old infant was abducted and later rescued by the police.
According to police, every child who enters the temple will be tagged with details of his/her parent or guardian, who is accompanying the child. A similar identity card will be given to the adult as well.
As people are exiting the temple, the cards will be checked by the police to verify if the adult accompanying the child is indeed the one who came in with them.
This new initiative has been implemented since Tuesday, 1 January, evening, confirmed Tirupati Superintendent of Police, Anburajan to TNM. “The process has already started. Before leaving the temple premises, the police security would cross check the identity to confirm if the child is along with their parent indeed or their guardian. If there is a mismatch, they would be caught.”
“At the entry point of the gate, the cards would be issued. The same needs to be deposited before they leave. No one can leave the exit without showing their card.”Anburajan, Superintendent of Police, Tirupati
Presently, these identity cards are handwritten. Police are contemplating making it foolproof by making the process digital. "We are thinking of introducing digital unique cards with magnetic code etc. with the help of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam, but we need to discuss with the stakeholders before taking such a step," the SP said.
Besides this new initiative, police teams would be keep a vigil across the temple to avert any attempts to abduct children.
The temple also has around 600 CCTVs for surveillance.
On Friday, 28 December, 18 month-old Veeresh Dalimbe was abducted by a man named Vishwambhar from Tirumala.
As Veeresh’s parents, who came from Maharashtra on a pilgrimage, could not get an accomodation, they slept at the mandapam near the APSRTC bus stop. However, as their child was missing in the morning they alerted the authorities.
After receiving a complaint, police immediately circulated photos of the kidnapper caught on CCTV and tracked him. Two teams of police were sent to Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
However, after residents of Mahoor in Maharashtra’s Nanded alerted the police about Vishwambhar along with a kid, as described by them, police nabbed him on Sunday and safely rescued Veeresh.
(Published in an arrangement with The News Minute)
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