CJP protest: Police identified 2,873 but 25 were already in jail

New Delhi: At least 25 of the 2,873 people with criminal records identified by the Delhi Police using facial recognition software (FRS) at the CJP-ld Jantar Mantar protest over the alleged exam leak between July 20 and 26 were in jail during that period, an exclusive investigation by The Indian Express showed on Friday, September 4.

Earlier this week, while the apex court quashed all FIRs against the protestors, it allowed the government to go ahead with action against these 2,843.

According to the report, Express looked at those accused of serious crimes such as murder, attempted murder, and rape. There were 205 names in these: 101 (murder), 61 (rape), six (POCSO Act), and 37 of the 62 listed under attempted murder.

Breaking this group down further, 17 charged with murder, four with rape, and four with attempt to murder were in Delhi’s prisons at Tihar, Mandoli, and Rohini when the FRS flagged them at Jantar Mantar, said the report. Three of them were identified on July 24, another 21 on July 25, and one on July 26, the last day of the protest at Jantar Mantar.

As per the Delhi Police answers to a questionnaire by the newspaper, “During the protests, 2,873 individuals identified as prima facie having criminal antecedents were spotted. However, further verification in this regard is pending.”

According to the police affidavit submitted on August 17 in the Supreme Court in response to plea alleging use of force and surveillance during the protest, 2,402 people were identified by their biometric database, ‘Crime Kundli‘, and 471 through criminal records.

One of these, said the report, was linked to a high-profile killing in Delhi, with Yogesh, aka Raju, being arrested for his role in the murder of a gym owner in Greater Kailash-1.

80 pc accuracy means a match

The affidavit does not say whether those identified were accused, convicts, or merely named in criminal cases.

It said, “No actions are taken solely based upon the result of the facial recognition system, which is only the first step to identify a person in the crowd who has a criminal record. After the said face is recognised, there is a field verification done with respect to the individual concerned since that person’s details are already in the police records, and if, on field verification, it is found that he was, in fact, present at the site, actions are taken.”

However, back in 2022, in response to a Right to Information (RTI) request, the police had said that a match is considered positive if the system shows 80 per cent accuracy. The performance changes according to the algorithm, camera angle, lighting, image quality, masks, and the database being searched.