Punjab has launched ‘Pehchaan’, a digital public identification portal designed to help families in India and abroad identify unclaimed and unidentified deceased persons kept in government mortuaries across the state.
The portal was launched by Dr Balbir Singh, Punjab’s Health and Family Welfare Minister.
Pehchaan’ Portal Key Features
- Purpose: Provides families with a simple digital mechanism to search for missing relatives who may have died in accidents or other circumstances.
- Digital records: Details of every unidentified or unclaimed deceased person will be uploaded within 48 hours of the postmortem.
- Records include facial photographs, tattoos, birthmarks, physical deformities and detailed physical descriptions.
- Police integration: When a family submits an online claim, the concerned Police Investigating Officer (IO) automatically receives the information for further investigation and action.
- Coverage: The portal connects all 23 districts and 346 government hospitals in Punjab.
- Accessibility: It is publicly accessible and free of charge through the official websites of the Punjab Health Department.
- Scale of the problem: Around 5,000–6,000 people die as unknown and unclaimed persons in Punjab every year.
Signficance
‘Pehchaan’ creates a direct digital link between families seeking missing relatives and the police investigation system, potentially making identification faster and reducing the difficulties faced by families searching for unidentified deceased persons.