NEET Protest: At Least 25 Identified By Delhi Police Camera At Jantar Mantar Were Already In Jail, Says Report

(MENAFN- Live Mint) The Delhi Police told the Supreme Court earlier in August that its facial recognition system flagged 2,873 people with criminal records at the NEET protest. They had assured that no action would be taken without verification. An Indian Express verification showed that at least 25 on that list, facing serious charges, were already in jail.

What's the matter?

Police said that 2,873 persons were identified between July 20 and July 26 through the system at the Jantar Mantar protest site.

According to Bar and Bench, the Delhi Police said its use of facial recognition technology (FRS) during the recent protest at Jantar Mantar was confined to persons with existing criminal records and did not result in indiscriminate surveillance of the crowd.

For their part, police made it clear that any action will be taken only after“field verification”, not merely on facial recognition.

The Supreme Court quashed all FIRs related to the students' exam-leak protests but allowed the government to proceed against the 2,873 people Delhi Police claimed had criminal records and were identified by its Facial Recognition System (FRS) at Jantar Mantar between July 20 and 26.

The details of these 2,873 people reportedly matched existing police records. The figure does not mean that 2,873 people were found to have committed offences during the protest, Brut reported.

At least 25 of these 2,873 people identified by Delhi Police's facial recognition system as having criminal antecedents at the Jantar Mantar student protests were already in jail when they were flagged, an investigation of police, prison and court records by The Indian Express has found.

The finding raises questions over the reliability of the facial recognition-based identification even as the Supreme Court has allowed the government to proceed against those identified, subject to further verification.

"An investigation of those with serious charges, murder, attempted murder and rape, and child abuse, shows that at least 25 people on the list, identified by the Facial Recognition System (FRS) at Jantar Mantar, were in jail as per police, jail and court records," the Indian Express report claimed.

Inside the investigation

Of the 2,873 people identified in the police affidavit, The Indian Express focused on those who were accused of murder, attempt to murder and rape. This accounted for 205: 101 (murder), 61 (rape), six (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) and 37 of the 62 listed in the affidavit under attempt to murder.

In this group of 205, as many as 17 facing charges of murder; four of rape, including two in POCSO cases; and four more of attempt to murder were lodged in Delhi's three prison complexes at Tihar, Mandoli and Rohini when the FRS flagged them at Jantar Mantar, records show.

These 25 individuals included three identified by the FRS on July 24, 21 on July 25, and one on July 26, the last day of the protest at Jantar Mantar.

Responding on Monday to a questionnaire from The Indian Express, the Delhi Police said:“During the protests, 2873 individuals identified as prima facie having criminal antecedents were spotted. However, further verification in this regard is pending.”

As per the police affidavit submitted on August 17, its FRS identified individuals with criminal records at the protest site whose“particulars matched with existing records available in official police databases”.

It said that 2,402 people were identified by the Delhi Police's biometric database, Crime Kundli, and 471 through criminal records.

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