SC to hear plea against Delhi Police's facial recognition use at protest
The Supreme Court on Thursday, Aug 13 agreed to hear a plea filed by a Rajya Sabha lawmaker challenging the alleged deployment of facial recognition technology and other biometric surveillance measures by Delhi Police during the recent student protest at Jantar Mantar here.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana directed the matter be tagged with earlier petitions on the issue.
Senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy, appearing for Rajya Sabha MP AA Rahim, said there are two issues of concern — facial recognition of protesters conducted by Delhi Police and data stored by private companies. "One maps your face and one is a vehicle. So spectacles are used and a vehicle is also used. And that data is all taken without permission. These private entities host the data. In violation of the rules…," she submitted.
The bench said it would hear the petition along with other related matters.
Rahim, a Rajya Sabha member from Kerala for the Communist Party of India (Marxist), has approached the top court seeking a declaration that the use of indiscriminate biometric surveillance at peaceful public assemblies is unconstitutional and should be restrained until Parliament enacts a law specifically authorising and regulating such measures.
The plea, filed through advocate Subhash Chandran K.R., alleged that Delhi Police conducted biometric surveillance in a "complete legal vacuum." It said neither the Delhi Police Standing Orders governing protests nor the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022, authorises biometric surveillance of persons participating in civilian assemblies.
According to the plea, Delhi Police carried out automated extraction and matching of protesters' biometric identifiers and allegedly linked the data with permanent national criminal databases. It alleges that protesters, journalists and other members of the public were subjected to continuous biometric surveillance through indiscriminate collection of photographs and video footage using CCTV cameras, drones and a mobile command-and-control vehicle.
The petition further states that an RTI response from Delhi Police confirms that no privacy impact assessment has been conducted for the deployment of facial recognition technology. It also claims that police had previously maintained that facial recognition technology was intended to be used only for tracing missing persons and identifying deceased persons.
Relying on the landmark judgment in K.S. Puttaswamy vs Union of India, the plea said the surveillance fails the constitutional tests of legality, legitimate state purpose and proportionality.
The petition seeks directions requiring authorities to disclose the technologies, databases and vendor arrangements used for biometric surveillance, and to establish a mechanism enabling affected individuals to access their data and seek its deletion through a grievance redressal process. It also sought a direction to private companies to preserve, cease using and permanently delete any biometric data in their custody.
