MargadarshiniA family member is missingతె
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A family member is missing

Who to call at once, how to report to the police, and what you can do if a missing-child complaint is not recorded.

About this guidePending verification

Published on 12-11-2026. Not every fact has been checked against its official source yet: confirm at the office.

Where:By phoneAt the office

For whom: People in Telangana whose family member is missing, and anyone who finds a child or person who seems lost.

In an emergency, call at once

112Police, ambulance and fire emergency (Dial 112), also for a missing child or person. Free, 24 hours.100Police1098Child Helpline: for a child in distress or missing, 24 hours

1Your situation

We show only what your answers need.

What has happened?
Is the missing person under 18?

Your answers stay on this phone.

2Documents you need

Tick the ones you have. They are kept in this browser.

  • Details
    What the photo must look like
    • A recent photo.

    Not confirmed: No official page we read gives a photo size or a number of copies. Ask at the station.

    Not confirmed: No Telangana page we read lists what to take to the station.

    Sources: 4

  • Details

    What they look like and any marks on the body, and the place they went missing from.

    Not confirmed: No Telangana page we read lists what to take to the station. Ask at the station.

    Sources: 4

    3Your steps

    · Do them in order. Tick each one when it is done.

    If something goes wrong
    1. Do this now

      Call 112 at once.

      Say who is missing, and where and when they were last seen.

      Where
      By phone

      Sources: 1

    2. Do this now

      For a missing child, you can also call 1098 (the Child Helpline).

      Where
      By phone

      Sources: 3

    3. Do this now

      Go to the nearest police station and make a complaint.

      You can give the complaint at any police station, wherever the child went missing.

      Where
      The nearest police station

      Sources: 3, 8

    4. Do this now

      Telangana Police's Women Safety Wing says a complaint about a missing child should be registered as an FIR, presuming abduction or trafficking at first (it cites the case Bachpan Bachao Andolan vs Union of India).

      Ask for the FIR number and note it down.

      Where
      The nearest police station

      Sources: 4

    5. Do this now

      Go to the nearest police station and report the person missing.

      Where
      The nearest police station
      Not confirmed

      No official source we read sets any waiting time before you report a missing adult; Telangana's Dial 112 site lists a missing person among the reasons to call 112. Whether the report is registered as an FIR, we could not confirm. Ask at the station.

      Sources: 3, 1

    6. Do this now

      You can also send the complaint on WhatsApp to 8712656858, the Missing Persons Monitoring Cell of the Telangana Police Women Safety Wing.

      Where
      By phone

      Sources: 4

    7. Do this now

      Telangana's Women Safety Wing says missing-case information is passed to bus stands, railway stations and child care bodies, and that Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) teams run operations to trace missing children.

      Where
      You do this yourself

      Sources: 4, 3

    8. Do this now

      When the child is found, the police may bring the child before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC).

      Where
      You do this yourself

      Sources: 6

    9. Do this now

      For free legal help, go to the District Legal Services Authority in your district court complex, or call the NALSA helpline 15100.

      These authorities were set up to give free legal services to the weaker sections of society.

      Where
      District Legal Services Authority (district court complex)
      Open the official page

      Sources: 7

    10. Do this now

      Call 100, or 1098 for a child, and say where they are.

      You can also tell the nearest police station or the district AHTU.

      Where
      By phone

      Sources: 3

    11. Do this now

      If you take charge of a child who seems lost or abandoned, the law says you must tell the Childline (1098), the nearest police station, a Child Welfare Committee or the District Child Protection Unit within 24 hours (not counting travel time), or hand the child over to a registered child care institution.

      Not telling them is an offence: up to six months in jail, or a fine of ₹10,000, or both.

      Where
      You do this yourself
      Time limit
      Within 24 hours, not counting travel time

      Sources: 6, 2

    If something goes wrong

    If it is rejectedFor a missing child: if the station will not record your complaint as an FIR, the law lets you send it in writing, by post, to the Superintendent of Police (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, section 173(4)).

    For a missing child: if the station will not record your complaint as an FIR, the law lets you send it in writing, by post, to the Superintendent of Police (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, section 173(4)). You can also ask the District Legal Services Authority for free legal help.

    Telangana State Legal Services Authority (NALSA helpline) · Open the official page

    15100

    Sources: 8, 4, 7

    If it is lateFor a missing child: Telangana's Women Safety Wing says that if the child is not found within four months, the case may be forwarded to the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU).

    For a missing child: Telangana's Women Safety Wing says that if the child is not found within four months, the case may be forwarded to the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU). You can contact the Women Safety Wing's AHTU.

    Women Safety Wing AHTU, Telangana Police · Open the official page

    8712656858

    Sources: 4, 5

    Official websites for this work

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    Related guides

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    The 8 official pages and papers this guide is written from
    1. Telangana Police Dial 112: Emergency ResponseTelangana Police, "When to call 112", group "Violence Against Women and Children", example "Child in danger, missing child or missing person"; service "Missing Persons Report"; "24 hours a day, 365 days a year, from any phone, anywhere in Telangana, free of cost" (Telugu and English text in the site's script /assets/index-CcocZEf4.js) · read on 31-10-2026
    2. Emergency ContactsGovernment of Telangana (Telangana State Portal), Emergency numbers: "Police 100"; "Child Line (For Children in distress) 1098" · read on 31-10-2026
    3. Get Help by IssueWomen Safety Wing, Telangana State Police, Section "If I have to report a missing person": the AHTU teams trace missing persons and children; "If you find a missing person you can report to us about their whereabouts"; "How to report? Dial 100 or 1098, Reach out to nearest AHTU or reach out to Nearby Police Stations" · read on 31-10-2026
    4. Missing Persons Monitoring CellWomen Safety Wing, Telangana State Police, "Tenets for formation" ("Through the case of Bachpan Bachao Andolan vs Union of India writ petition(Civil) No.75 it was said to register FIRs to trace the missing kids"; a complaint about missing children "should be under the FIR ... with the presumption of either abduction or trafficking"; not recovered within 4 months: "may be forwarded to AHTU unit"); "How Missing Persons Reports are Received" (missing cases information is passed to local CCI/DCPU, bus stands, railway stations; complaints by WhatsApp 8712656858) · read on 31-10-2026
    5. Anti-Human Trafficking UnitWomen Safety Wing, Telangana State Police, "Reach out to us: AHTU - 8712656858"; "When can I approach AHTU?" (Missing / kidnap); AHTUs in 31 police districts and commissionerates; Operation Muskaan/Smile (missing children data uploaded on the Track Child portal) · read on 31-10-2026
    6. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (2 of 2016), text as enactedMinistry of Law and Justice (Legislative Department), Government of India (Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 1, No. 2 of 2016); copy published by the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, Sections 2(12) ("child": a person who has not completed eighteen years of age), 2(14)(vii) (a missing or run away child is a child in need of care and protection), 2(25) ("childline services": a twenty-four hours emergency outreach service) and 31(1)(i) (a child in need of care and protection "may be produced before the Committee" by any police officer). Sections 32(1) (mandatory reporting regarding a child found separated from guardian: within twenty-four hours, excluding journey time, to the Childline Services, the nearest police station, a Child Welfare Committee or the District Child Protection Unit, or hand over to a registered child care institution), 33 (offence of non-reporting) and 34 (imprisonment up to six months or fine of ten thousand rupees or both) (01-01-2016) · read on 31-10-2026
    7. IntroductionTelangana State Legal Services Authority, Paragraphs 1-4 (free legal services to the weaker sections of society; District Legal Services Authorities in the District Courts Complex of all 33 districts; Mandal Legal Services Committees); header link "NALSA Helpline Number 15100" · read on 31-10-2026
    8. The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (No. 46 of 2023)Ministry of Law and Justice (Legislative Department), Government of India (Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 1, No. 54), Sections 2(1)(g) and (o) (cognizable and non-cognizable offence); 173(1) with its provisos, 173(2), (3) and (4); 174(1)-(2); 175(3); 176(1), second proviso; 193(3)(ii) (25-12-2023) · read on 31-10-2026