Police face recognition tech has just 2% accuracy

Court wanted cops to use facial recognition to trace missing women

New Delhi, Aug. 23: The accuracy of facial recognition software being used by police to trace missing persons is only two per cent and “not good”, the Delhi high court was informed on Thursday.

The submission before a bench of justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel was made by the Delhi police counsel, Rahul Mehra, after the court suggested use of facial recognition software to trace some of the women who went missing from an illegal placement agency here which was employing them as bonded labour.

“The software is not good. There is only two per cent match,” Mr ◗ Mehra told the court which was hearing a habeas corpus plea moved by the brother of one of the missing women.

According to the status report of Delhi police, also represented by advocate Chaitanya Gosain, a joint team of revenue and police officials had raided the placement agency in August last year and rescued 10 persons, including five minors, from there and arrested a couple and another man who were together running it.

During the course of investigation, it was found that eight women brought here from different parts of the country were still missing, police told the court.

After hearing the brief arguments, the bench transferred the matter to another division bench which is dealing with a similar issue to avoid multiplicity of proceedings.