HC asks Delhi police to consider upgrading its facial recognition software

The Centre said on Friday the version of the facial recognition software (FRS) procured by the Delhi police was not up to the mark and was giving poor matching results, prompting the Delhi High Court to direct the force to ascertain whether it can be upgraded.

The direction to the police came after the Ministry of Woman and Child Development (MWCD), represented by the central government's standing counsel Ripudaman Singh Bhardwaj, told the court that the current version of the FRS was so poor it sometimes matched pictures of missing boys with that of girls.

The ministry's submission came after the court sought to know why the number of children matched using FRS was even less than one per cent.

"Why are the matching results so poor," it had asked.

Following the ministry's submission, a bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri asked the Delhi Police, represented by its standing counsel Rahul Mehra, to ascertain if an updated version of FRS was available.

The court directed the ministry to prepare a chart indicating the number of missing children who have been identified using FRS and the status with regard to restoration of each child to his/her family.

The ministry was also directed to intervene and ensure that all states, especially Bihar, Assam and West Bengal, from where a large number of children end up in Delhi, are connected to the FRS data base.

The order came after Delhi Police, also represented by advocate Chaitanya Gosain, told the court that input data of missing children has been uploaded in respect of only very few states.

The court directed the police and the ministry to file status reports, before the next date of hearing on September 27, indicating compliance of its orders.