She has made it her life’s mission to see girls smiling. Especially the ones who are picked up from their villages with the promise of a job and then sold off to the highest bidder to work as bonded labourers. That’s the fate of the lucky ones. Others are pushed into flesh trade.  

Over the past year, Sampat Meena and her team of dedicated policemen and policewomen have managed to rescue over 150 girls from various states. 

That was part of Operation Muskan that now has the blessings of the Union Home ministry.

“I have chased many hardcore criminals, but working for women and children always gives me utmost satisfaction. After every successful rescue, I feel I have done my bit for society,” the 1994-batch IPS officer had told The 
Telegraph earlier.

Credited with setting up Ranchi’s only Mahila Thana dedicated to the service of women (in Kotwali) and Bal Mitra police stations for children (in Gonda and Jagannathpur), her superiors were quick to see her potential. In 2013, she was awarded the police medal of meritorious service.

Two years on and there’s no stopping Meena. She went on to initiate several other measures, like, for instance, starting a system of maintaining block-level registers of migrants, appointing woman councillors in schools and drafting a policy on formation of interdisciplinary teams to crack down on trafficking.

Meena knows that a lot more needs to be done before Jharkhand can free itself from the scourge of human trafficking.

“I have always maintained that the police’s job is to trace and rescue. But, the main challenge lies after that. Rehabilitation is the key. Unless, we strengthen that aspect, our fight against trafficking will always be half successful,” she says, advocating more awareness and greater co-ordination between government departments. 
Meena plans to stay busy in the coming year. 

She is planning a series of consultative sessions and conferences involving activists, voluntary organisations and various arms of the government so that all can work towards a common goal.

“We will be pursuing Operation Muskan on a larger scale from January next year when we will send around a dozen teams to districts to trace missing kids. Be sure, this is a priority for us.”

Newly elected panchayat representatives also fit into her plans about maintaining registers. “In case of adults, be it men or women, we can’t  stop them from going outside the state for jobs or studies… so, we are also exploring ways of maintaining registers at panchayats and local police outposts. This will help us with some initial data about who is going where.” 

Be sure to hear more from Meena in 2016.