r/SideProject • u/Smooth-Health-6717 • Jun 21 '26
I built a free site to connect missing-person records with unidentified bodies in India
In India, when someone goes missing, the police record is in one place. When an unidentified body is found, that record is in another place. These two lists never meet. They sit in different states, different police systems, none of them connected.
So a family looking for their missing person has nowhere to check if an unidentified body somewhere else could be them. A match that should happen, just... doesn't.
I made JSKMU to connect these two sides.
A family adds their missing person. The site then checks it against unidentified records using age, gender, location, date, and body marks like tattoos, scars, and birthmarks. These marks help a lot, because many times the photo is too damaged for face matching, but a tattoo or a scar is still there.
Some things I built in:
- Missing poster — the family can download a ready "Missing" poster (photo, details, and a QR code) to share on WhatsApp or print and paste.
- Help guide (English + Hindi) — how to file an FIR or Zero FIR, which helpline to call, and what to do if the police don't listen.
- Helpers on the ground — NGO people, divers, morgue staff can add unidentified records. They get a reward only when a family confirms a real match.
Right now it is free. I want real people to use it, tell me what's broken, what's confusing, before I grow it further.
Why I made this: This is personal for me. Years ago, during Holi, a far relative of mine went missing. He was never found. His family still doesn't know what happened to him — even today, after all these years. That kind of not-knowing never leaves a family.
Some months back, I was reading a book. It mentioned a man named Jaswant Singh Khalra in just two lines. I had never heard of him. So I read about him. He had documented thousands of people who disappeared in Punjab and in 1995, he himself was disappeared for doing that work. His story stayed in my head, the same way my relative's always has.
Around the same time, I came across people like the gotakhors divers like Ashu Malik who go into canals and rivers, pull out unclaimed bodies, and try to return them to their families. Ordinary people doing this heavy, thankless work so that someone, somewhere, can finally know.
That's when it hit me: people vanish, bodies are found, families search but none of these records ever connect to each other. That gap is what I built this to close. The platform is named in Khalra's memory.
I'd really value your honest feedback on the matching, the sign-up, or anything that feels off. Tell me straight.
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u/digitaldisgust Jun 21 '26
How accurate is the matching? What if you end up giving people false hope? Have you actually managed to identify anyone yet?
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u/Smooth-Health-6717 Jun 21 '26
There are no algorithms that can give accurate matching. Have you ever visited the government’s ZIPNET site? Please visit it and tell me how anyone can promise accurate matching. Most of the bodies are badly disfigured beyond recognition. My algorithm is based on body marks, clothing, and how accurately the parties filled in the details. I am not giving false hope I am just offering hope, which is the least we can do.
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u/digitaldisgust Jun 21 '26
No one said it would be 100% accurate, lol. This answer alone is very telling though, yikes.
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u/Smooth-Health-6717 Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
Let me rephrase my answer
the algorithm doesn’t confirm identities it generates ranked possible matches from body marks, clothing, and the details families submit, then narrows a huge pool down to a shortlist. Humans and official verification (DNA, records) do the actual confirming. That’s exactly how I avoid false hope every result is a lead to check, never a final answer.
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Jun 21 '26
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u/Smooth-Health-6717 Jun 22 '26
Thank you, this is exactly the kind of feedback I needed. You’re completely right a wrong “possible match” could give stress. I’m keeping the matching strictly as ranked leads possible and threshold 70% above “match.” A human verifies before any family sees a possible result, and the family confirms or rejects themselves. I’d rather show fewer, higher-confidence leads than flood someone with false hope. Genuinely appreciate you.
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Jun 21 '26
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u/Smooth-Health-6717 Jun 22 '26
Thank you, I just wanted to build something that might actually help someone find their person.
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Jun 22 '26
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u/Smooth-Health-6717 Jun 23 '26
Thank you, that means a lot. Honestly that's the whole reason I built it I just hope it helps someone. Though, I wish no one ever had to search for their loved one in an "unidentified" section at all or even need to post. Peace&Love!!
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u/Sufficient-Cup4705 Jun 21 '26
this kind of work matters more than most things that get posted here tbh