Delhi Police has traced 3,000 missing children in four days by using its Facial Recognition System (FRS) that it is currently testing out on a trial basis. They have been able to establish the identity of these children and are in the process of reuniting them with their families. 

Police began using the technology on 6 April after the High Court commissioned a test run of the software, the country's Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) said in an affidavit.

As part of its recently launched trial of the FRS software, the Delhi Police scanned the faces of 45,000 children living in children's homes across the national capital, out of which identity of 2,930 children could be established in the period between April 6 and 10.

© Hindustan Times

Previously, the authorities posted photos of missing children on a nationwide online database called TrackChild. Police, child welfare agencies, and citizens could then provide input. But the backlog of photographs was too much for officials to handle.

The FRS software has all the facial data of any child and it matches it along with their photograph that is obtained from the TrackChild portal, hence the identity of the child is instantly established due to cross-referencing. 

Rakesh Srivastava, secretary to the Women and Child Development Ministry, said in the affidavit (https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/facial-recognition-system-helps-trace-3000-missing-children-in-4-days/articleshow/63870277.cms): "The Delhi Police shared the outcome of the FRS on April 10 with the WCD ministry. The police said that identities of 2,930 children were established. The ministry has sent the data to the National Informatics Centre (NIC) for further details. The court will be informed after completing further procedures."

© The Guardian

India's National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) hopes to use this data to create a national children's tribunal to adjudicate these cases.

The use of such technology has raised privacy concerns, however, the NPCR in India advocates its use under these circumstances.

“If such a type of software helps trace missing children and reunite them with their families, nothing can be better than this,” NCPCR member Yashwant Jain told Indian news outlet NDTV.