High Court asks Delhi to setup face recognition software to help trace and rescue missing children

The Delhi High Court has asked the AAP government and the police to coordinate with each other to procure at the earliest a facial recognition software which would help trace and rescue missing children. A bench of Justices G S Sistani and Chander Shekhar asked the police to forward, within three weeks, a proposal to the Delhi government regarding the specifications required in the software.[caption id="attachment_2443092" align="alignleft" width="380"] Representational image. Reuters[/caption]The direction was issued by the bench after the Delhi government, represented by standing counsel Rahul Mehra, said it was willing to fund the procurement of the software. The Delhi government was asked to consider the proposal within three weeks of receiving it and act expeditiously on it. The court asked the police and the government to file a status report by the next date of hearing on 6 November.The bench was hearing a plea regarding missing children in which it has been examining ways and means to address the issue of tracing them and restoring them to their families. Earlier, the court had observed that crowded places were often used by child traffickers to kidnap children and that the kids were vulnerable at the railway stations.The court had directed installation of CCTV cameras at the stations, saying they would "go a long way" to prevent the menace and provide leads with regard to children missing from these areas. Pursuant to the direction, the Railways had informed the bench that it has installed CCTV in 10 out of the 14 stations in Delhi and cameras would be set up in the remaining four soon. It also told the court that help-desks would be provided at all the stations shortly.