Rajya Sabha member A.A. Rahim of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) approached the Supreme Court on Tuesday challenging the Delhi Police deployment of facial recognition and related biometric surveillance during recent demonstrations linked to NEET-UG paper leak grievances.
Filed through advocate Subhash Chandran under Article 32, the public interest petition contends that officers used CCTV, drones, a mobile command vehicle, AI-enabled recognition tools, smart spectacles and the National Crime Records Bureau’s Abhigyan fingerprint application at the Jantar Mantar protest site without statutory authority.
The plea seeks a declaration that indiscriminate biometric monitoring of lawful assemblies violates constitutional guarantees of privacy, free expression and peaceful protest. It asks the court to halt such practices at demonstrations until Parliament enacts a dedicated legal framework.
Rahim’s filing argues that neither Delhi Police standing orders nor the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022 authorize mass biometric capture at civilian protests. It also cites police responses to right-to-information queries as showing no privacy impact assessment and internal limits on facial recognition to missing-person and unidentified-deceased cases.
The matter adds to growing judicial scrutiny of surveillance at student-led agitations that drew nationwide attention in July 2026.
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Sources:
https://www.thehindu.com/news/top-news-of-the-day-on-july-28-2026/article71276909.ece