AI emerges as powerful ally in search for India's missing persons, say experts
Cybersecurity researchers and forensic experts are increasingly advocating the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to trace missing persons more quickly and accurately, as conventional methods struggle with the sheer volume of cases.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau, 4,24,235 people — including 2,64,934 women and 13 transgender persons — remain untraced across India. In Tamil Nadu alone, 5,524 missing persons are yet to be located. The numbers highlight the scale of the challenge facing law enforcement.
G. Deepak Raj Rao, Professor at the National Forensic Sciences University, Chennai, explained that AI systems can process information at a scale and speed unattainable by human investigators. Police forces often face manpower constraints, making it difficult to monitor multiple surveillance camera feeds simultaneously. AI, however, can analyse thousands of hours of CCTV footage in real time, detect movement patterns, and generate alerts when a missing person is identified.
“The longer it takes to locate a missing person, the greater the challenges. Every minute counts when it comes to the person’s safety and movement. In the case of a missing child, the first 24 to 48 hours are critical. In remote or under-resourced areas where police personnel are overstretched, AI-assisted tools can produce results within minutes, whereas conventional methods may take several days,” he said.
Modern facial recognition systems can identify individuals across CCTV networks in public places such as shopping malls, bus terminals, railway stations, and airports. AI can also flag partial images of missing persons appearing in social media posts, news reports, or other publicly available content for further investigation.
Dr. Deepak noted that in many missing-person cases, particularly those involving young people, valuable digital footprints exist. AI can scan social media platforms for last-known activity, location tags, and accounts linked to the missing individual. It can also analyse social media history to identify signs of emotional distress and map relationship networks to help investigators identify persons of interest.
Senthil Kumar Ilango, a researcher studying AI applications in cybersecurity and investigations, pointed out that police agencies worldwide face the challenge of covering vast areas with limited manpower. AI tools could analyse terrain, weather conditions, the person’s last-known location, and behavioural patterns to prioritise search areas and provide actionable leads.
He highlighted a major challenge: the absence of a common platform to integrate information from multiple systems. “For instance, a person admitted to a hospital could be the individual police are searching for in a neighbouring district or State. But there is no mechanism to connect the dots. AI-powered integration platforms could automatically match unidentified individuals against missing-person records across jurisdictions,” Mr. Senthil Kumar said.
Officials of Southern Railway said facial recognition cameras and AI-assisted surveillance tools are expected to be deployed at railway stations to help identify missing persons as well as monitor individuals with criminal antecedents.
Other cyber crime researchers also expressed the view that AI-assisted tools would go a long way in expediting investigations in missing cases. Many developed countries are already deploying AI to trace missing persons, and geographical boundaries are not a constraint.
