Social media to the rescue: 3-year-old Jahnvi found after huge FB, Twitter campaign

The missing three-year-old girl Jahnvi Ahuja, who disappeared from India Gate last week has been found in Janakpuri in West Delhi, according to news reports. Police said that they got a call informing them of the girl’s whereabouts. An Indian Express report adds that “the caller reportedly said the girl had a placard around her neck with her name, her father’s number and the fact that she had gone missing from India Gate written on it by hand.” The Delhi Police on Sunday declared a reward of Rs 50,000 for those giving information about Jahnvi. And while the police had put up posters announcing that she was missing, the girl’s parents and family had also undertaken a massive social media campaign on Twitter, WhatsApp and Facebook to help find their daughter. Her pictures were widely shared on Facebook and Twitter all of last week, with the message that she was missing, and that if found, her father Rakesh Ahuja should be contacted on the mobile number given alongside. According to an Indian Express report, police think that it was this social media campaign that caused her kidnappers to panic and eventually “abandon her.” [caption id=“attachment_1743267” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Jahnvi in this Facebook post that was widely shared.[/caption] Jahnvi, whose missing person report was registered in Tilak Marg police station, went missing around 9.15 pm 28 September from India Gate where she had gone with her parents. “We were preparing to leave. She (Jahnvi) was sitting with me. She disappeared within two minutes,” said her mother. Her family had also said earlier that the Delhi Police failed to get any information about the child despite the availability of CCTV footage and a phone number given by the girl’s parents to them. The available footage shows Jahnvi wandering in the India Gate area with some people. Police have still not been able to identify those around her in the footage. Jahnvi’s story is a rare good story from Facebook and demonstrates the widening scope of influence of social media networks in India. She’s certainly not the first missing child whose face has been put up on Facebook or other social media websites. But she’s definitely one of the first few who’ve been found so soon after a campaign. Hopefully this incident will mark a new beginning for people who feel they have nowhere else to go. With inputs from IANS