India, Delhi
Delhi Police
Live Facial Recognition, supplied by Not specified in sources reviewed
OperationalJournalismPAI-16ABF9DE
- Body
- Delhi Police
- Country
- India
- Area
- Delhi
- Technology
- Live Facial Recognition
- Supplier
- Not specified in sources reviewed
- Status
- Operational
In routine use by the named body, on the evidence of a public source. - Stage
- In use now
- Since
- 2018
- 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
- Evidence
- Journalism
Named reporting by a reputable outlet - Source
- Bar and Bench court reporting; MediaNama RTI findings; Internet Freedom Foundation
- Last checked
- Record code
PAI-16ABF9DE
Notes
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.