Delhi Police reported that it identified about 2,873 people with prior criminal records who were present at the Jantar Mantar protests. Delhi Police said it used facial recognition systems on live CCTV feeds around the protest venue, comparing captured faces with criminal databases and dossier records maintained by district police units and other law-enforcement agencies. Delhi Police said the resulting leads would be folded into an investigation related to violence witnessed on July 20.

What happened (identification exercise at Jantar Mantar)

Delhi Police stated that it identified about 2,873 people with prior criminal records present at the Jantar Mantar protests. Delhi Police officials said the process used facial recognition based on live CCTV feeds captured at and around the protest venue. Delhi Police further said the facial recognition outputs were compared with criminal databases and dossier records maintained by district units and other law-enforcement agencies.

Background (link to violence witnessed on July 20)

Delhi Police said the identification exercise followed a crackdown connected to a July 20 march to Parliament by the ‘Cockroach Janta Party’. Delhi Police claimed violence was witnessed on July 20 and that the investigation into that violence would use the identification findings for further verification. Delhi Police also claimed that many identified individuals had histories involving serious offences, including murder, attempted murder, robbery/dacoity, and rape/molestation.

What changed now (method and scale of biometric-assisted screening)

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