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Hazard 2020-001

Delhi Police treats face recognition matches above 80% similarity as positive identifications

What happened

Delhi Police used facial recognition to identify suspects after the riots in north-east Delhi in February 2020, and later in its investigations of the 2021 farmers’ rally at the Red Fort and the 2022 Jahangirpuri riots. The police commissioner at the time of the 2020 riots said that 231 people were arrested on the basis of CCTV or video footage, and that 137 of them were identified through facial recognition.

In replies dated 25 July 2022 to right-to-information requests from the Internet Freedom Foundation, the police said they treat any match above 80 percent similarity as a positive result, and keep weaker matches as leads that need other evidence. They also said that no privacy impact assessment had been carried out.

When
2020
Where
Delhi
Sector
Courts, tribunals and policing
System
Face or voice recognitionDelhi Police’s facial recognition system, which compares footage with photographs of convicts and police dossiers.
How AI was involved
Worked as built, and the way it was used caused harm
Harm
Human or fundamental rights
Who was affected
People identified as suspects from CCTV and video footage
Based on
An official statement
Record
Added 01.10.2026

What followed

The police answered only after the Central Information Commission directed them, in June 2022, to respond to the requests afresh.

NoteThis record is a hazard: a practice that could plausibly lead to people being wrongly identified. We found no court finding that a particular person was misidentified in these investigations. Delhi Police denies that its use of the technology is biased.

Sources

  1. Delhi Police’s claims that FRT is accurate with a 80% match are 100% scary

    Internet Freedom Foundation,

  2. Indian police use facial recognition to persecute Muslims and other marginalized communities

    Coda Story,

Something wrong or missing?

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