A first! Delhi woman head constable Seema Dhaka gets out-of-turn promotion for tracing 76 missing children

Head constable Seema Dhaka is currently posted at Samaypur Badli police station of the outer-north district.

Head constable Seema Dhaka is the first woman personnel of the Delhi Police who has been granted an out-of-turn promotion for tracing 76 missing children. Dhaka is currently posted at Samaypur Badli police station of the outer-north district.

She said, “It gives me joy to see children reunited with parents. I’m happy that the Police Commissioner rewarded my work. This might encourage others also.”

On August 7, Delhi Police Commissioner S N Shrivastava had announced the grant of additional incentives, including an out-of-turn promotion, for any constable or head constable who rescues 50 or more missing children below the age of 14 years within a period of 12 months. At least 15 of the children should be aged less than eight years, reported news agency PTI.

Also, Asadharan Karya Puraskar was announced for any constable or head constable who rescues 15 or more missing children below the age of 14 years -- five out of them aged less than eight years -- within a period of 12 months, reported PTI.

Dhaka is the first police personnel of the force who has been given the out-of-turn promotion for tracing missing children under the incentive scheme.

She traced 76 missing children within a span of two-and-a-half months and 56 of them were below the age of 14 years. "Women HC Seema Dhaka, PS Samaypur Badli, deserves congratulations for being the first police person to be promoted out of turn for recovering 56 children in 3 months under incentive scheme. Hats off to fighting spirit and joy brought to families (sic)," Shrivastava tweeted.

Dhaka said she has rescued these children not only from Delhi but from other states also. She rescued two children from West Bengal, two from Hoshiarpur district of Punjab and several from Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Noida, Panipat and Bihar, etc.

"There was a painstaking case in which a seven-year-old boy was rescued from West Bengal. The boy went missing from his house in 2018 and rescued in October 2020 from West Bengal," Dhaka said.

"A woman had lodged a missing report of her seven-year-old son in 2018. The woman changed her address as well as the mobile number and it became very difficult to contact her. We somehow managed to trace her son in West Bengal and went to the village after crossing two rivers," she said.

The head constable said the boy was not ready to go to his parent's house. "We got to know that the mother of the boy got married to another man. The boy told us that his step-father did not like him and used to beat him, following which he left his home," she said.

Dhaka joined Delhi Police on July 3, 2006. She got promoted in 2014 and became head constable. She was posted in southeast Delhi and remained posted there till 2012. She was later transferred to the outer district in 2012 and from there, she got transferred to Rohini and later to outer-north, police said.

with inputs from news agency PTI