Darpan reunites Som Soni with his family after five years

AI system

System: Darpan face-recognition portal for missing and found children
Model: Not assessed
Release: Not assessed
Application developer: Telangana State Police
Role: Not assessed
Configuration: Not assessed
Inputs and outputs: Not assessed
Autonomy: Not assessed
Workflow: A pool of missing-child photographs (the reports do not say how these are collected). Photographs of children in child-care institutions supplied by welfare departments. Routine matching runs by Telangana State Police.
Human oversight: Not assessed
Relation to AI: The face match was the sole lead. The boy had been in an Assam institution for five years with no identification until Darpan matched his photograph to the Uttar Pradesh missing-child record. Police then contacted the parents. Verification rested on the parents identifying him in person. The Telangana CID news page was not available. So the record relies on news reports quoting the ADGP.
AI contribution: The face match was the sole lead. The boy had been in an Assam institution for five years with no identification until Darpan matched his photograph to the Uttar Pradesh missing-child record. Police then contacted the parents. Verification rested on the parents identifying him in person. The Telangana CID news page was not available. So the record relies on news reports quoting the ADGP.

Benefits

Outcome identifiers: Not assessed
Benefit: Darpan matched Som Soni, missing from Allahabad since 14 July 2015, to a boy in a Goalpara, Assam child home; reunited October 2020.
Category: Improved Knowledge Discovery
Status: Not assessed
Beneficiary groups: People.
Beneficiaries: Not assessed
Reach: Not assessed
Distribution and access: Not assessed
Duration: Not assessed
Expected?: Yes
Costs and harms: Not assessed

Measurement

Studies: Not assessed
Study design: Not assessed
Measurement: Not assessed
Setting and sample: Not assessed
Measures: Not assessed
Comparison: Not assessed
Results: Not assessed
Additional value from AI: Not assessed
Limitations: Not assessed
Denominators: Not assessed
Materials for replication: Not assessed

Money

Kind of value: Not assessed
Amount: Not assessed
Currency and prices: Not assessed
Period and unit: Not assessed
Realization: Not assessed
Recipients and payers: Not assessed
Gross or net: Not assessed
Included costs: Not assessed
Comparison: Not assessed
Method: Not assessed
Return and payback: Not assessed

People and places

Participants: Developer: Telangana State Police. Operator: Telangana State Police, with Goalpara Police (Assam) and Handia Police Station (Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh).
Jurisdictions: Benefit: Goalpara, India. Developer: India. Operator: India.
Ownership and control: Not assessed
Dependencies: Not assessed
Cross-border connections: Not assessed
Geopolitical implications: Not assessed

Follow-up

Conditions for replication: Institutions keep supplying current photographs of found children. Matches are verified in person by family and local police before handover. Child's appearance five or ten years after disappearance remains matchable.
Replication attempts: 1 follow-up entries. Benefit recurred: 1.
Later findings: 12 December 2020. Two months later Darpan matched another missing child, Rahul from Jabalpur, to a Howrah child welfare home; he was handed to his parents on 12 December 2020.
Availability: Not assessed
Institutional decision: Not assessed
Grounds: Not assessed
Action and result: Not assessed
Success criterion: Not assessed

Evidence

Source numbers: AIBD-0032-source-0001–0004
Citations: Numbered references below.
Language: Not assessed
Source relationships: Independent
Original evidence: Not assessed
Access and versions: Not assessed
Supported findings: Not assessed
Evidence links: Not assessed
Evidence strength: Not assessed
Missing evidence: Not assessed

Grades

Assessed benefits: People.
Depth: People: 3.
Reasons: People: A child separated from his parents for five years, living in an institution in another state, was identified and returned to his family. The sources describe the match as having “changed the lives of the child and his parents”.
Observed or intended: Not assessed
Rubric: Not assessed
Assessor and date: Not assessed
Alternative assessments: Not assessed
Fill: Independently reported

Entry details

Kind

Not assessed

Related entries

Same deployer and task: Telangana Police facial-recognition matching; Darpan matched a missing boy to his family, while a Medak police face match misidentified Mohammed Khadeer, who died in custody.

Field

Policing / missing persons and child protection. Missing children in child-care institutions.

Purpose

Darpan was built to match missing-child photographs with children found in institutions so they can be returned to their families. This reunification is that intended benefit.

Dates

Date basis unassessed: 2020 (precision unassessed). Updated: 21 October 2026.

Stage

Not assessed

Version

SHA-256: c3599adb7d26…

References

Other identifiers: AI Incident Database: 483.
Category mappings: Not assessed
Brief: Not assessed
Revisions: 8 revisions. Latest: 21 October 2026.

Sources

News report Independent author

The Tribune (2020). Boy missing from UP found in Assam after 5 years with help of Telangana Police's facial recognition software. The Tribune, 9 October 2020.
News report Independent author

ETV Bharat (2020). 5 years on, missing UP boy traced to Assam through 'DARPAN'. ETV Bharat, 9 October 2020.
News report Independent author

Telangana Today (2020). TS Police 'Darpan' helps child from UP reunite with parents after 5 years. Telangana Today, 9 October 2020.
News report Independent author

The Hans India (2020). Telangana Police's Darpan helps MP boy to reunite with parents after 10 years. The Hans India, 14 December 2020.