‘Bad characters, absconders’: Over 2,500 flagged at Jantar Mantar via facial recognition

Four FRS cameras at Jantar Mantar's entry and exit points are scanning crowds in real time, matching faces against Delhi Police's criminal database

PGurus Newsdesk

July 25, 2026

Over 2,500 individuals with criminal records flagged in three days at Jantar Mantar

How facial recognition turned Jantar Mantar into a watch list in real time

Behind the placards and slogans at Jantar Mantar, another kind of scanning has been quietly underway — one involving cameras, algorithms, and a database of over 2,500 flagged faces.

Delhi Police has confirmed that its Facial Recognition System (FRS) identified more than 2,500 individuals with criminal records at the protest site, according to reports. The technology isn’t aimed at demonstrators exercising their right to protest — officials say it’s built to catch a different crowd entirely: wanted criminals, fugitives, repeat offenders, and people already logged as “Bad Characters” in police files.

Four FRS-enabled cameras now sit at the main entry and exit points around the site, feeding directly into the Delhi Police database. The mechanics are fast: high-resolution cameras capture faces from a distance, the system cross-checks them against police records within seconds, and if there’s a match, the nearest police unit gets an instant alert — turning identification into action almost in real time.

One officer described the setup as serving a dual purpose — catching troublemakers before they act, while adding a layer of security that doesn’t interfere with the ordinary business of protesting. This isn’t the system’s debut either; Delhi Police has leaned on FRS before, during high-security events like Republic Day, Independence Day, and major festivals including Holi, Diwali, Eid, and Ramlila.

But the numbers behind this deployment point to something more urgent than routine monitoring. Over a three-day stretch from July 21 to 23, following violent clashes on July 20, police registered 15 FIRs after flagging the thousands of individuals with criminal histories moving through the crowds. Authorities say the concern isn’t hypothetical — miscreants have reportedly been slipping into the demonstrations specifically to target law enforcement, with several assaults carried out using knives and other sharp weapons.

It paints a picture of a protest site under two forms of scrutiny at once: public attention on the cause being protested, and an unseen algorithmic layer working to separate genuine demonstrators from those using the chaos as cover. Whether that balance holds — protecting the space without policing the protest itself — is the tension now playing out at Jantar Mantar.

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