5 years on, missing UP boy traced to Assam through 'DARPAN'

Som Soni was aged eight when he went missing from his house in Allahabad on July 14, 2015. He was traced to a Child Home at Golapara in Assam, Telangana Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Women Safety Wing, Swati Lakra said on Friday.

Hyderabad, Oct 9 (PTI): After reported missing for five years from Uttar Pradesh, a boy was traced to Assam by the Telangana police using 'DARPAN', a face recognition tool, and re-united with his family. Som Soni was aged eight when he went missing from his house in Allahabad on July 14, 2015.

He was traced to a Child Home at Golapara in Assam, Telangana Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Women Safety Wing, Swati Lakra said on Friday. On July 23 that year, Soni was spotted by Golapara police and was admitted to a local Child Welfare Centre.

DARPAN, the face recognition software, developed by Telangana police, maintains a database of children and persons lodged at various rescue homes across the country. It tries to match photos of those missing with those lodged at the homes.

Telangana police, using the face recognition tool to match photographs of missing children with those of children found at various child homes across the country, detected the boy by matching his photos, she said. Immediately, the Telangana police informed their Uttar Pradesh counterparts, who in turn informed the parents of the missing child. The parents went to the Child Welfare Centre and identified their son now aged 13.

Efforts are on to trace such missing children across the country through the tool and reunite them with their families, the ADGP added..

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