The Centre said on Friday the version of the facial recognition software (FRS) procured by the Delhi police was not up to the mark and was giving poor matching results, prompting the Delhi High Court to direct the force to ascertain whether it can be upgraded.
The direction to the police came after the Ministry of Woman and Child Development (MWCD), represented by the central government's standing counsel Ripudaman Singh Bhardwaj, told the court that the current version of the FRS was so poor it sometimes matched pictures of missing boys with that of girls.
The ministry's submission came after the court sought to know why the number of children matched using FRS was even less than one per cent. "Why are the matching results so poor," it had asked.
Following the ministry's submission, a bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri asked the Delhi Police, represented by its standing counsel Rahul Mehra, to ascertain if an updated version of FRS was available.
The court directed the ministry to prepare a chart indicating the number of missing children who have been identified using FRS and the status with regard to restoration of each child to his/her family.