Can Delhi Police use facial recognition on protesters? Supreme Court to hear plea

“One maps your face, and one is a vehicle. So spectacles are used, and a vehicle is also used. And the data is taken without permission. These private companies host the data, in violation of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, CrPC, etc,” Guruswamy told the bench, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana.

Violation of Supreme Court judgment

The court is already hearing petitions raising the constitutional validity of the use of facial recognition technology and biometric information to profile people during the recent Jantar Mantar protests.

The petitioners have contended that the use of facial recognition technology violates the Supreme Court’s 2017 judgment in K S Puttaswamy v Union of India, which held that any infringement of the right to privacy must be authorised by law, pursue a legitimate aim, and be proportionate to the objective sought to be achieved.

After they raised apprehensions that digital data of the protesters recorded by the police may be used to harass them, the court earlier asked the authorities to ensure it is preserved and is not brought into the public domain for the time being.

In his plea, Rahim said the Delhi Police’s standing orders governing protests, and the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022, do not authorise the biometric surveillance of persons in civilian assemblies.

The Delhi Police said their surveillance had found that nearly 2,873 individuals, who have cases of murder, rape and child abuse against them, visited the protest site in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar in July.