AI in policing: India
Every documented deployment of artificial intelligence by law enforcement in India currently recorded on this site, drawn from the deployment tracker. Each entry is tied to a published source and carries the date it was last checked.
Deployments
IN Delhi Police Live Facial Recognition Operational
- Legal basis
- No dedicated statute; matches against biometrics held under the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act 2022
- Oversight
- None identified; constitutionality is contested before the Supreme Court of India
Matches faces from cameras/video one-to-many against Delhi Police and National Crime Records Bureau databases, treating an 80%-similarity score as a positive match. Procured after a 2018 Delhi High Court direction, originally for tracing missing children; since used for crowd screening (2019 political rally), the 2020 Delhi riots, 2021 Red Fort clashes and Jahangirpuri riots. FR vans were deployed at student protests from 20 July 2026; a counter-affidavit sworn by a Deputy Commissioner and filed before the Supreme Court (Shailendra Mani Tripathi v Union of India, WP 280/2026) states the system generated matches for 2,873 individuals between 20-26 July, 92 linked to 10+ cases. No judgment yet -- an affidavit in live proceedings, not a ruling. Delhi Police told the Delhi HC in 2018 its own system's accuracy was 2%; the Internet Freedom Foundation has established via RTI that there is no rule governing use, no privacy impact assessment and no retention policy. India has no dedicated law governing biometric surveillance.
Source: Bar and Bench court reporting; MediaNama RTI findings; Internet Freedom Foundation · last checked 2026-08-24