Centre gives electronic access to police on missing children

The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) on Wednesday told the Delhi High Court that it has shared electronic access to data on missing children with the Delhi Police.

The ministry told this to a bench of Justices S. Muralidhar and I.S. Mehta, which directed the Delhi Police to apprise it of the progress in tracking missing children, and listed the matter for further hearing on May 31.

The court, which was hearing a plea related to tracking missing children, had in February directed the police to use a "Facial Recognition Software" (FRS), developed by a private entity, on a trial basis to track missing children.

The ministry had made an arrangement through the National Informatics Centre to share data on children with the Delhi Police through e-mail on a daily basis, as agreed upon in a meeting on May 2, it said.

NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan was ready to supply the FRS to the government free of cost to track missing children.

The NGO has clarified that the software, once run through the NIC network, would prevent any private player from interfering in any manner and the software would adequately assist in identifying and rehabilitating children aged 3 years and above.

--IANS

akk/nir/bg