Known as star officer for tracing missing children, Seema Dhaka of Delhi Police is a gritty police woman who loves daring investigations
Ujjawala Nayudu
New Delhi, March 10
Countering all the stereotypes of a woman police, Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Seema Dhaka traced 76 missing children in 75 days and became the first police personnel in Delhi Police to get out of turn promotion from a head constable to an ASI. The promotion is not what drove Seema to trace children but the love for her uniform and the fire in her belly to be a good police officer. Seema’s journey is now going to be showcased in a web series.
Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivatava had promoted Seema to the rank of ASI from a head constable after her commendable work of tracing 76 missing children. The success of her incredible work yet hasn’t changed her humbleness and she credits her success to Delhi Police.
ASI Seema Dhaka (34) is now posted at Samaypur Badli police station in Outer North District of Delhi Police.
Speaking exclusively to the BW Policeworld, Seema said, “Policing is another name of challenges but when you become a police official, you don’t worry about challenges. When the Delhi Police Commissioner gave standing order for constabulary that those who would find 50 kids below the age of 10, they would get promoted. I saw this as an opportunity for investigation rather than a promotion”.
Seema managed to trace missing kids from Punjab, Haryana, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. She found the first missing child in August 2020 and the 76th kid was found in October 2021. The kids were from the age group of 10 to 14. Majority of the traced kids belonged to poor families.
Speaking about them, Seema said, “Most of the kids were from construction workers families. The parents are working and the kids were left alone at home. Some of the kids were addict of sniffing banned drugs who escaped home. I also found some teen girls who were pregnant who had gone missing from homes. The child Welfare Committee was handed over the charge of the children. While some were united with families, some were sent to shelter home”.
Tall, lanky, smiling Seema is not just a pretty face. In these cases, she has chased, jumped terraces, fought fisticuffs and even faced abductors who were murderers in other cases while rescuing the kids. She even trapped few abductors by befriending them.
Seema explains, “I used to go in civil clothes and form network sources with locals. I even befriended one kidnapper and became his girlfriend to extract all information from him. We apprehended him after he disclosed his vehicle number, location and more”.
One case really moists her eyes which is of a seven-year-old boy who was found in West Bengal.
She recalls, “This kid was upset with his stepfather who did not want him and left home. His mother filed a complaint but I started probing, she got evasive. After much efforts when I found her number and contacted her, she showed little interest. So I got the call data record of her number and found she belongs to West Bengal. We formed a team to go there and found the child hiding at a relative’s place”.
She added, “He stayed with me in the hotel for three days and said, ‘I want to stay with you only’. I had tears in my eyes and I called my husband. He said, ‘Bring him home, we will have two sons’. However, I had to follow the procedure. I will never forget that boy in my life”.
When she travelled to other states to find the kids, she had just recouped from Covid 19. She had lost weight, become weak yet managed to travel districts after districts to find the kids.
She said, “I have earned it with my intelligence and hard work. People used to tell me that kids go missing, don’t overdo it. I had decided if I can find those kids who are missing since many years than I can solve any case tomorrow”.
Seema comes from a humble background of a family of all teachers. Her family used to be apprehensive of her joining police but her achievements are spoken about in Bhajju today.
She said, “My father did everything to support my education. I was the only graduate in my village. I used to ride a bicycle to go to college when many objected to it. My father whenever concerned used to come cycling half way in hot sun to accompany me back home. Girls in UP, do get education but they don’t have enough chances to work”.
Seema joined the Delhi Police in 2006 as a constable and became a head constable in 2014. As a HC too, she straight started probing molestation and sexual crime cases.
She got married to a cop who is also in Delhi Police and has an eight-year-old son who is proud about his “daring” mother.
Seema said, “My husband knows that I am a woman who is daring and if I see anything wrong I won’t keep quiet. He never raised a doubt when I went to trace those kids. My son keeps talking about me to his schoolmates and keeps giving them lessons on not talking or accepting food from strangers”.
She states that is she had proper guidance as a student, she would have given exam for direct recruitment of a Sub-Inspector of Inspector. However, she said, “I am sure that with my hard work and knack for investigations, I will reach there. However, I want to start something for the girl in my parental village to give them required directions”.
Though Seema is not a web series lover but she stated she got into watching the same while she was recouping from Covid 19.
When asked about who should play her role, Seema opined, “Anyone could but I hope my journey, sacrifices of my family, my village and the challenges I took while finding these kids should be shown in the right direction”.
Seema has become an inspiration to not only women police but police across the country that if a simple duty is taken up sincerely, you don’t need bigger cases to bag promotions rather you carve your own niche.
