HC issues notices to TS, city police chief on use of face recognition technology

HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Monday issued notices to the state government and the Hyderabad police commissioner to respond to a PIL, which complained that the use of face recognition technology by the Telangana police on citizens had no legal backing and not approved by any legislature. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili issued notices to the authorities and sought counters from them, while dealing with the PIL filed by S. Q. Masood, a Hyderabad-based social activist who contended that the police in May 2019 stopped him in traffic and took his photos without his consent though he was not facing any previous criminal cases. "The use of this technology is being done secretively, with most citizens unaware that they are under the gaze of a camera equipped with the technology and that is a violation of Article 19 and privacy of individuals,” the petitioner said and also submitted that the police had not given any reply to him, for his RTI queries regarding the validity of the use of FRT. The petitioner said though the police were saying that they were collecting data for the purpose to track and identify the criminals and suspects in crimes, the storage data would be misused.