Jantar Mantar protests: 25 flagged by facial-recognition were already imprisoned
What's the story
At least 25 people, who were flagged by the Delhi Police's facial recognition system during the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) protests at Jantar Mantar, were already in jail, The Indian Express reported. The Delhi Police had earlier informed the Supreme Court that its facial recognition system had identified 2,873 people with criminal records at the NEET protest between July 20 and July 26.
Discrepancies found
Investigation reveals serious crimes among identified individuals
The Indian Express's investigation focused on those accused of serious crimes, including murder and rape.
Out of 205 such individuals, 17 people facing murder charges were already lodged in Delhi's Tihar, Mandoli, and Rohini prisons when flagged by the Facial Recognition System.
The report also found four individuals accused of rape (including two under POCSO) and four facing attempted murder charges were also incarcerated at the time of identification.
Verification status
Delhi Police confirm FRS identified 2,873 people during protests
Responding to The Indian Express's inquiry, the Delhi Police confirmed that 2,873 individuals were spotted during the protests. However, they stressed that "further verification in this regard is pending."
The police said its FRS identified these individuals based on existing records in official databases, with 2,402 flagged from the biometric database 'Crime Kundli' and 471 from criminal records.
FRS
How the facial recognition system works
The Delhi Police's FRS draws boxes around detected faces and compares them with images in police databases.
In response to an RTI request in 2022, the police had revealed that they consider a match "positive" if it shows an accuracy rate of 80%.
However, this result is not conclusive proof of identity, as performance varies with various factors such as the algorithm used, camera angle, lighting conditions, etc.
Legal proceedings
Supreme Court quashed FIRs related to students' exam-leak protests
The Supreme Court earlier this week quashed all FIRs related to the students' exam-leak protests but allowed the government to proceed against the 2,873 people identified by Delhi Police's facial recognition system at Jantar Mantar.
The details of these individuals reportedly matched existing police records.
However, this does not imply that all 2,873 people committed offenses during the protest.