5 min learnNew DelhiUp to date: Aug 18, 2026 02:08 PM IST
In an affidavit filed within the Supreme Court late Monday, Delhi Police rejected allegations of mass surveillance utilizing facial recognition know-how throughout final month’s pupil protests at Jantar Mantar and acknowledged that the system doesn’t profile each particular person and solely captures these with prior prison information.
Within the counter‑affidavit filed late Monday night time, Delhi Police mentioned solely people with severe prison backgrounds could be investigated by the Particular Investigation Workforce constituted by the police commissioner. It added that there could be no investigation in opposition to protestors ‘who are usually not inside the above referred 2,873 individuals having severe prison expenses in opposition to them together with homicide, try to homicide, dacoity, rape, POCSO [Protection of Children from Sexual Offences] and so on’.
The Supreme Courtroom is listening to petitions alleging extreme police drive on the protest website.
“The facial recognition system doesn’t mechanically seize, create, generate or preserve profiles of each particular person current on the protest website, neither is it deployed for indiscriminate surveillance or assortment of non-public info of peaceable protesters except he has a earlier prison file. The facial recognition system solely captures these faces that are already recorded in earlier offences,” the affidavit acknowledged.
It added, “No actions are taken solely based mostly upon the results of the facial recognition system which is simply step one to determine an individual within the crowd who has a prison file. After the mentioned face is recognised, there’s a discipline verification accomplished with respect to the person involved since that particular person’s particulars are already within the police information and if, on discipline verification, it’s discovered that he was, in reality, current on the website, actions are taken”.
AI -generated illustration of a Delhi Police Supreme Courtroom affidavit , during which the cops deny mass surveillance claims and alleged misuse of facial recognition know-how.
Including that “the facial recognition system doesn’t seize who doesn’t have previous prison file,” it added that “the face and different materials of solely these accused could be obtainable within the police file who’re dealing with severe offences and never petty offences like visitors challans/ violations offences and so on.”
47 history-sheeters recognized
The police mentioned that by using the facial recognition system, 2,873 people with previous prison information have been recognized ‘whose particulars matched with present information obtainable within the official police databases, comprising of two,402 individuals recognized by way of the Crime Kundli database and 471 individuals recognized by way of file information’.
Story continues under this advert
Of those, it mentioned, 92 have involvement in additional than 10 instances. Of the 92, 47 are history-sheeters, it added.
The police added that the information point out earlier involvement of those people in severe prison instances, together with homicide, try to homicide, dacoity, theft, rape, offences underneath the POCSO Act, crimes in opposition to ladies, violations of the Arms Act, kidnapping, snatching, offences underneath the Narcotic Medicine and Psychotropic Substances Act, and so on.
The affidavit mentioned ‘these official information display that the deployment of the FRS [facial recognition system] automobiles successfully assisted the respondent in figuring out individuals having prison antecedents from amongst the big gathering, thereby enabling the police to undertake well timed preventive policing measures for sustaining public order and guaranteeing the protection and safety of peaceable protesters and most of the people’.
‘Protest infiltrated by criminals’
The police added that between July 20 and July 26, seven motorized vehicle thefts, 67 different theft instances, and 123 misplaced stories have been lodged at numerous police stations in and across the protest website, “showcasing that the protest infiltrated by miscreants, criminals and anti-social parts”.
Story continues under this advert
The affidavit mentioned a false narrative was being unfold that based mostly on the facial recognition system, biometrics was being collected, folks have been being summoned utilizing their Aadhaar particulars, and information was being offered to non-public entities.
“Such narrative is constructed not solely falsely however clearly with some ulterior motives. As acknowledged hereinabove, picture of nobody besides individuals having severe prison file is captured. The biometrics of such hardened prison is all the time obtainable with the police in Nationwide Crime Bureau which is in compliance with the statutory provisions and no person has ever been referred to as with their Aadhaar card or the rest. Such narrative constructing, in reality, is all the time counter-productive in restoring peace and tranquillity….Actually, it’s within the curiosity of peaceable protestors that hardened prison parts are weeded out by use of newest know-how,” the affidavit added.
The police mentioned that the “whole incident is comprehensively documented by way of intelligence inputs, deployment orders, crowd-management plans, Every day Diary entries, wi-fi log messages, CCTV footage, official videography, body-worn digicam footage, medical information, injury evaluation stories and different contemporaneous official paperwork. Quite a few video recordings depicting protesters attacking police personnel and different safety forces, damaging Authorities property and indulging in violence have already been collected and being preserved.”
