App Helping Faceless developed to combat child trafficking

Struck by the horror of being kidnapped at the age of six, computer engineer Shashank Singh teamed up with a colleague to develop a mobile application that traces lost children and <g data-gr-id="58">re-unites</g> them with their families. The initiative named ‘Helping Faceless’ uses technology such as ‘Face Recognition’ and data analytics to combat child trafficking and help a lost child connect 

with family.

“We want to help the vulnerable street children with the help of data and technology,” says Singh, founder of the initiative who holds a Bachelors in Technology in Computer Science. The mobile app, <g data-gr-id="46">availaible</g> for download on the Google Play store and installed by volunteers aims to help vulnerable children by clicking a picture of them and guiding them to the nearest police station. The volunteers work on a short and <g data-gr-id="47">long term</g> basis to help the needy children. The initiative had made it to the top 5 innovations recognised by CNN-IBN’s initiative “Networked India”, which aims to identify and felicitate clutter-breaking innovations in the field of connectivity and mobility.

“We have an android app installed in phones used by our volunteers and wherever they find the children who are lost or in need of help, they take a picture, says S Sai Meera co-founder of the initiative. There are two ways, explains Meera, through which the app can be of help to the children -- the <g data-gr-id="49">short term</g> way or for the long term. “We help children in two ways. One is the <g data-gr-id="50">short term</g> way of helping the kids in which we take the child to the nearest police station. The police <g data-gr-id="52">conducts</g> inquiries and takes the child to the children’s welfare committee or the observational home. “In the long term way we run the photo of the lost child through our database, which sports an algorithm that is supposed to be 96 <g data-gr-id="51">per cent</g> accurate. This is then manually verified and finally we reach the observational homes and help the child further,” says Meera. 

Singh says he was kidnapped from a lawyer’s office in Lucknow when he was a child and remained missing for 14 to 15 hours. He was traced through a network of rickshaw pullers operating in the city. “The idea came from <g data-gr-id="44">personal</g> encounter when I was myself kidnapped at the age of 6 from an area in Lucknow when I had gone with my father. A network of <g data-gr-id="42">rickshawallas</g> operating in the city helped to rescue me.

“So I had an idea in my mind and met Meera at a lecture at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. We finally we came on board for an app to help the needy children,” says Shashank. The initiative which is a self-funded one operates all throughout the <g data-gr-id="36">country</g> with a strong base win Mumbai.