Facial Recognition at Jantar Mantar: The Delhi Police have been accused of mass surveillance during the ongoing protests at Jantar Mantar. The police are conducting live scanning using facial recognition.

Facial Recognition at Jantar Mantar: Uproar over the use of facial recognition technology

Facial Recognition At Jantar Mantar: Delhi Police is being accused of using advanced technology to identify people involved in the ongoing Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. Videos being shared on social media claim that Delhi Police is using AI-powered facial recognition technology to identify protesters. CJP has also shared a video on Instagram and said that Delhi Police has deployed facial recognition vans to scan people participating in peaceful protests live. It is extracting biometric and personal data on the spot.

Is data being extracted from Aadhaar?

The video circulating on social media does not mention data extraction from Aadhaar, but many users have raised questions about it. They have asked whether it is connected to Aadhaar or any other government database. The police have not yet responded. You can watch the video of the police monitoring below.

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Two vans have been parked at the protest site.

According to the Indian Express, Delhi Police has deployed two monitoring vans near the protest site. One is receiving live feeds from CCTV cameras installed around Jantar Mantar, while the other is analyzing the videos using AI and comparing the faces of the people captured on camera to the police database. Officials denied that this was being used to identify protesters, saying that this was being done to alert the police if a face with a criminal record was seen in the crowd.

Constant monitoring has created fear among protesters.

According to media reports, the constant police monitoring at the protest site has instilled fear among the people. Those attending the protest say they are uncomfortable with the cameras everywhere. Some have even started covering their faces to avoid being captured on camera. Meanwhile, the CJP has questioned under which law the police are conducting the mass scanning and where the database for this is coming from. The CJP has also asked who is storing the facial scans and how long this data will be kept.