Saket Gokhale questions source of Delhi Police facial recognition data

Saket Gokhale, a Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament from the Trinamool Congress, has raised questions regarding the source of databases used by the Delhi Police for facial recognition technology (FRT). The inquiry follows admissions in the Supreme Court that FRT was deployed during recent protests at Jantar Mantar.

Gokhale questioned whether the Election Commission of India (ECI), Aadhaar, the Income Tax Department, or the Transport Department provided citizen data to the police. He cited a 2020 Right to Information (RTI) response in which the ECI admitted to sharing entire voter lists, including photos, with the Delhi Police during the investigation into the Delhi riots. Gokhale noted that such sharing reportedly violates the ECI’s own rules regarding photo electoral rolls.

The MP further questioned how the police are able to conduct facial recognition on all protesters rather than just those with existing criminal records if no official databases are being shared.