{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-09-30T07:19:50.551Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"vendor","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"contextual","evidence":"","year":"2026","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":2,"coverage":{"cases":2,"countries":2,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":1,"minors":0,"coreRelations":0,"contextualRelations":2,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2026-south-africa-sassa-elife-certification-portal-facial-verification-failures-reported-by-pensioners","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"The eLife Certification was implemented on March 30, 2026, as a digital verification tool to curb fraud.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Beneficiaries who fail to complete the process risk having their grants suspended.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"secure biometric verification through the electronic Know Your Client (eKYC) system","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"Beneficiaries who fail to complete life certification as directed may face payment delays or suspension of their grants.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"SASSA's eLife Certification is a self-service life certification on its online portal that uses biometric verification through its electronic Know Your Client (eKYC) system. IOL reports it was implemented on 30 March 2026. SASSA said beneficiaries who fail to complete life certification as directed may face payment delays or suspension of their grants.","causal_attribution":"The implementation date comes from IOL alone. SASSA statements read do not give a start date. The suspension consequence is SASSA's own stated rule and no suspension of either pensioner's grant is reported."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"SASSA would like to apologise to all our beneficiaries who could not access our self-service portal after they were notified to undertake the eLife Certification verification process by the Agency.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"there were system glitches which led to delay and disruptions in completing eLife Certification, leading to long queues at SASSA offices.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"the Agency can report that the challenge has been resolved.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"On 10 April 2026 SASSA apologised to beneficiaries who could not access its self-service portal after being notified to complete eLife Certification. It said system glitches linked to interfaces with other departments had caused delays and disruptions and long queues at its offices, and said the challenge had been resolved.","causal_attribution":"SASSA's own account of its portal. The statement does not mention facial recognition and attributes the glitches to interfaces with other departments."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"both pensioners, told IOL they had tried to complete the facial recognition option on the portal but to no avail.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"We have been trying since Thursday, April 2, to do the selfie bit but it does not work after trying for 22 times","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"A pensioner couple told IOL they had tried the facial recognition option on the eLife portal 22 times since 2 April 2026 without success. IOL published the account on 23 April 2026.","causal_attribution":"Single first-person account relayed by one outlet. The cause of the failures is not established. The department attributes facial verification problems in general to poor lighting, unstable connectivity or missing Home Affairs biometric records (see c6)."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"IOL has been inundated with emails and calls from beneficiaries nationwide claiming they were unable to complete the mandatory certification process.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"beneficiaries cite consistent failures with facial recognition and one-time pins (OTPs).","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"The system just kept on loading and never went through to my profile. I have been struggling for three weeks","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Then also indicated that the Department of Home Affairs is not available to verify my particulars","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"IOL reported that beneficiaries nationwide contacted it to say they could not complete the certification and cited failures with facial recognition and one-time PINs. One pensioner said the site kept loading without reaching their profile for three weeks, and reported a one-time PIN rejection and a message that Home Affairs was not available to verify their particulars.","causal_attribution":"Unquantified accounts relayed by IOL. The pensioner who described the loading failure and the one-time PIN rejection did not describe a facial recognition failure."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"The Sassa portals are working as evidenced by the number of clients who have accessed the online services.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"As of April 16, 2026, 13,644 (88%) of the 15,499 unique clients who accessed the online verification services via the client portal were successfully verified","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"However, Sassa admitted the system has been working intermittently.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"A SASSA spokesperson told IOL the portals are working and that, as of 16 April 2026, 13,644 (88%) of 15,499 unique clients who accessed the online verification services via the client portal were successfully verified. IOL reports SASSA admitted the system had been working intermittently.","causal_attribution":"SASSA's own figures and account, which were not independently verified. The figures count clients who accessed online verification and do not report how many failed the facial step."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"SASSA said most non-verification cases were driven by beneficiaries failing to respond to notifications, not completing life certification, or unsuccessful facial recognition attempts on online platforms.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"In such cases, beneficiaries are redirected to fingerprint biometric verification at local offices.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"The agency said it had recorded 7,779 complaints linked to its electronic facial biometric system","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"The department attributed facial verification issues to poor lighting, unstable connectivity, or missing biometric records at the Department of Home Affairs.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"The agency said it had recorded 7 779 complaints linked to its electronic facial biometric system.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"IOL's 24 May 2026 report on a parliamentary reply says SASSA said most non-verification cases were driven by beneficiaries who did not respond to notifications, did not complete life certification, or had unsuccessful facial recognition attempts on online platforms, and that such beneficiaries are redirected to fingerprint verification at local offices. IOL says SASSA had recorded 7,779 complaints linked to its electronic facial biometric system and that the department attributed facial verification issues to poor lighting, unstable connectivity or missing biometric records at the Department of Home Affairs.","causal_attribution":"SASSA's account relayed by two outlets that share one reporter and one reply, so they are one chain. The reports do not date the complaints or say whether they concern eLife Certification or earlier online facial verification, and do not say how many were repeat complaints."},{"id":"c7","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"with 67,868 grants suspended in the third quarter alone","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"a grant is suspended 2 months after a beneficiary was notified to conduct a review and has not yet done so","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"around 70 000 grants have been suspended due to beneficiaries failing to come forward for review","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"The parliamentary reply reported 67,868 grants suspended in the third quarter (the reports do not identify the period) under a rule that a grant is suspended two months after a beneficiary was notified to conduct a review and has not yet done so. A Parliament committee statement of 5 February 2026 reported around 70,000 grants suspended for beneficiaries failing to come forward for review.","causal_attribution":"The suspension figures are context. No inspected report says how many suspensions followed a facial verification failure, and the committee statement predates the eLife implementation date reported by IOL."}],"effects":[{"label":"Pensioners reported repeated failures of the facial recognition step in a mandatory online life certification, with a stated risk of payment delay or grant suspension if it is not completed","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"},{"label":"SASSA reported delays, disruptions and long queues at its offices after beneficiaries could not use the self-service certification portal, which SASSA attributed to interfaces with other departments (its statement does not mention facial recognition)","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://iol.co.za/news/south-africa/2026-04-23-sassa-elife-certification-portal-beneficiaries-report-ongoing-glitches-despite-agency-denials/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"","independence_group":"iol-elife-glitches-report"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.gov.za/news/media-statements/sassa-self-service-system-restored-following-earlier-challenges-10-apr-2026","kind":"official_statement","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"","independence_group":"sassa-10-apr-2026-statement"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://iol.co.za/news/south-africa/2026-05-24-sassas-biometric-rollout-leaves-thousands-without-grants-amid-fraud-crackdown/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"","independence_group":"parliamentary-reply-iol-report"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://dailyvoice.co.za/news/2026-05-25-sassas-face-palm-facial-recognition-tech-linked-to-the-suspension-of-68-000-grants/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"","independence_group":"parliamentary-reply-iol-report"},{"id":"s5","url":"https://www.parliament.gov.za/index.php/press-releases/media-statement-committee-notes-grant-reviews-are-necessary-protect-poor-and-public-funds","kind":"official_statement","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"","independence_group":"parliament-committee-5-feb-2026-statement"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["public_services","accessibility"],"unknowns":["The reports do not say how many of the 67,868 grant suspensions (third quarter, period not identified) followed unsuccessful facial recognition. The suspensions are governed by a review non-response rule, and a committee statement dated 5 February 2026 already reported around 70,000 suspensions before the eLife implementation date reported by IOL.","The 30 March 2026 implementation date comes from IOL only. The SASSA statements read do not give a start date.","SASSA's statement refers to facial recognition on online platforms in general. Neither IOL 24 May 2026 nor Daily Voice 25 May 2026 mentions eLife Certification, and IOL places the reply within a biometric verification rollout dated from September 2025 (compulsory biometric enrolment for new applicants, verified at local offices). Whether the 7,779 complaints and the redirections to fingerprint checks concern eLife Certification at all is not stated. Facial photo verification through the same eKYC system for Social Relief of Distress grant applicants was reported earlier (Biometric Update, August 2024, and Corruption Watch, January 2025) and is a separate earlier deployment that this case does not cover.","Whether the pensioner couple later completed certification, or whether any grant was delayed or suspended, is not reported.","The cause of the couple's failed attempts is not established (lighting, connectivity, missing Home Affairs records, or the facial matching itself).","SASSA said on 10 April 2026 that the problem was resolved, and IOL reported failures continuing on 23 April 2026. The 88% success figure is SASSA's and was not checked.","The pensioner accounts come from one outlet (IOL). A Joburg ETC article of the same date relays it and adds nothing independent.","IOL page dates were taken from the URLs (23 April and 24 May 2026) because the page bodies show only relative ages."],"geography":{"basis":"IOL reports social grant recipients across South Africa struggling with the portal, and the SASSA statement and parliamentary reply concern the South African Social Security Agency's beneficiaries.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["ZA"],"affected_person_countries":["ZA"]},"publication":{"basis":"IOL (23 April and 24 May 2026), SASSA's 10 April 2026 statement on gov.za, Daily Voice and a Parliament committee statement were read in full. SASSA's and IOL's accounts are attributed and left at reported, and the pensioners' failures come from one outlet. The pensioners are not named. No inspected report attributes any grant suspension to facial verification failures.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-29"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The sources describe a facial recognition step in SASSA's eLife Certification portal, which uses biometric verification through the eKYC system and integration with Home Affairs systems, and IOL's 24 May 2026 report of a parliamentary reply refers to SASSA's electronic facial biometric system without saying whether it is the eLife portal. The vendor and model are not identified. The department attributes facial verification problems to poor lighting, unstable connectivity or missing Home Affairs biometric records, and a SASSA spokesperson says the portals work with intermittent downtime, so the cause of any individual failure is not established.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["made_decision_about"]},"name":"South Africa: pensioners report repeated failures of the facial recognition step in SASSA's eLife certification portal, and SASSA reports disruptions and office queues","summary":"The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) introduced an online eLife Certification (life certification) for grant beneficiaries that uses biometric verification through its electronic Know Your Client (eKYC) system. IOL reports the certification was implemented on 30 March 2026. SASSA says beneficiaries who do not complete life certification as directed may face payment delays or suspension. On 10 April 2026 SASSA apologised to beneficiaries who could not access the portal, said system glitches linked to interfaces with other departments had caused delays, disruptions and long queues at its offices, and said the problem was resolved. On 23 April 2026 IOL reported that a pensioner couple said they had tried the facial recognition option 22 times since 2 April without success, and that beneficiaries nationwide told IOL they could not complete the certification, citing failures with facial recognition and one-time PINs, with one pensioner also reporting a message that Home Affairs was not available to verify their particulars. A SASSA spokesperson said the portals work and that 13,644 (88%) of the 15,499 unique clients who accessed the online verification services by 16 April were verified, and IOL reports SASSA admitted the system has been working intermittently. In a May 2026 report on a parliamentary reply, IOL said SASSA stated that unsuccessful facial recognition attempts on online platforms were among the causes of non-verification (those beneficiaries are redirected to fingerprint checks at local offices) and that it had recorded 7,779 complaints linked to its electronic facial biometric system. The department attributed facial verification issues to poor lighting, unstable connectivity or missing biometric records at Home Affairs. Neither May report mentions the eLife portal, and IOL places the figures within a biometric verification rollout that it dates from September 2025. The reports do not say how many grants were suspended because of facial verification failures.","incidentDate":"2026-03-30","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-04-23","aiSystem":"Facial recognition step in SASSA's eLife Certification portal (biometric verification through the eKYC system, integrated with Home Affairs systems). Vendor and model not identified in the sources.","aiProduct":"SASSA eLife facial verification","aiCompany":"South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), deployer","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["other_material_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"SASSA said glitches caused delays, disruptions and long queues at its offices, and a pensioner couple told IOL they had tried the facial recognition step 22 times since 2 April without success. SASSA warned that beneficiaries who do not complete life certification as directed may face payment delays or suspension. No inspected report says that either pensioner's grant was delayed or suspended.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":2,"affectedCountStatus":"partial","affectedCountEvidence":"IOL reports one pensioner couple (two people) who said the facial recognition step failed 22 times. IOL says it was inundated with emails and calls from beneficiaries nationwide and SASSA recorded 7,779 complaints, but complaints are not people and the number of beneficiaries who failed facial verification is not reported, so no larger count is recorded. The 67,868 grant suspensions are not counted because no inspected report attributes them to facial verification.","victimAgeRange":"adult","platformType":"other","primarySourceUrl":"https://iol.co.za/news/south-africa/2026-04-23-sassa-elife-certification-portal-beneficiaries-report-ongoing-glitches-despite-agency-denials/","primarySourceLabel":"IOL (23 Apr 2026)","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-29T21:16:13.146866+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:17:54.03839+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["historical-2026"]},{"id":"2026-delhi-police-facial-recognition-jantar-mantar-list-25-in-jail","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'According to the police affidavit submitted on August 17, its FRS identified individuals with criminal records at the protest site'; 'It said that 2,402 people were identified by the Delhi Police'; 'and 471 through criminal records.'; 'No actions are taken solely based upon the result of the facial recognition system which is only the first step to identify a person in the crowd who has a criminal record.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'According to the Delhi Police affidavit, 2,402 people were identified through its biometric database, Crime Kundli, while another 471 were identified through criminal records.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'The Delhi Police's affidavit of August 17, 2026 told the Supreme Court that 2,873 persons with criminal records had been spotted by the FRS at the protest site.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"In an affidavit of 17 August 2026 before the Supreme Court, Delhi Police said its Facial Recognition System had identified 2,873 people with criminal antecedents at the Jantar Mantar protest site between 20 and 26 July 2026, 2,402 through its 'Crime Kundli' biometric database and 471 through criminal records, and that no action is taken solely on an FRS result before field verification.","causal_attribution":"The affidavit as quoted by The Indian Express and relayed by Outlook and IFF; not inspected directly."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'An investigation of those with serious charges, murder, attempted murder and rape, and child abuse, shows that at least 25 people on the list, identified by the Facial Recognition System (FRS) at Jantar Mantar, were in jail as per police, jail and court records.'; 'In this group, 17 faced charges of murder; four of rape, including two in POCSO cases; and four more of attempt to murder were lodged in Delhi'; 'Court and jail records for all 25 show custody dates precede the protest'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'At least 25 of the 2,873 people identified by Delhi Police'; 'were already in jail when they were flagged, an investigation of police, prison and court records by The Indian Express has found.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'Three were \"identified\" on July 24, twenty-one on July 25 and one on July 26, each with a timestamp.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"At least 25 of the 205 listed people facing murder, rape, POCSO or attempted-murder charges were in Tihar, Mandoli or Rohini jails when the FRS logged them at Jantar Mantar (17 murder, four rape of which the Express's narrative counts two and its itemised list three as POCSO cases, four attempted murder), with timestamps on 24, 25 and 26 July 2026 and custody dates that in some cases precede the protest by years.","causal_attribution":"The Indian Express's own check of police, prison and court records (one chain, relayed by Outlook and IFF); the Delhi Police response did not address the 25 cases."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'On Tuesday, when the Supreme Court quashed all FIRs related to the exam leak protests by students, it let the government proceed against the 2,873 people who the Delhi Police claimed had criminal records'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Delhi Police was given permission to register one fresh FIR concerning 2,873 people alleged to have serious criminal antecedents and initially reported to have been present at Jantar Mantar.'; 'The Court did not find that the 2,873 were present, had qualifying criminal records or committed violence.'; 'the order prescribed no method or express requirement that checks precede arrest or other action'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"'On September 1, 2026, a Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, invoking Article 142, quashed all FIRs registered against students who participated in the July protests'; 'while directing that this should not prejudice their rights and that they must be given every opportunity to defend themselves'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"On 1 September 2026 the Supreme Court quashed the FIRs against the student protesters but permitted Delhi Police to register a fresh FIR concerning the 2,873 persons with alleged serious antecedents, directing that this should not prejudice their rights, and without a finding that they were present; the undertaking that action would follow field verification is the police's own, and The Federal notes the order prescribed no such requirement.","causal_attribution":"The order as described by the three outlets; not inspected directly."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Responding on Monday to a questionnaire from the Express, the Delhi Police said:'; 'During the protests, 2873 individuals identified as prima facie having criminal antecedents were spotted. However, further verification in this regard is pending.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'In its response to the Express, the Delhi Police did not address the 25 cases'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"Responding to The Indian Express, Delhi Police said the 2,873 individuals had been spotted as prima facie having criminal antecedents and that further verification was pending; the response did not address the 25 cases.","causal_attribution":"Police statement as quoted by the Express."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'In response to a Right to Information (RTI) request in 2022, the police had revealed that it considered a match to be'; 'if its system showed an accuracy rate of 80 per cent.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'the Delhi Police disclosed that it treats any match with a similarity score above 80% as \"positive\"'; 'extracted in 2022 only after a Second Appeal before the Central Information Commission'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"Delhi Police disclosed in 2022, in reply to Right to Information requests, that it treats a facial-recognition match with an 80 per cent similarity or accuracy score as positive.","causal_attribution":"Delhi Police's 2022 RTI replies as described by IFF, which obtained them, and by The Indian Express, which IFF says relies on the same disclosures; one chain. The reply itself was not inspected. IE describes the threshold as an accuracy rate of 80 per cent and IFF as a similarity score above 80 per cent."}],"effects":[{"label":"at least 25 people in judicial custody were logged by the police facial-recognition system as present at a protest and listed in a sworn affidavit of persons with criminal antecedents against whom a fresh FIR and field verification were permitted","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://indianexpress.com/article/express-exclusive/delhi-police-facial-recognition-jantar-mantar-protest-accused-in-jail-10862099/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-09-24 from an Internet Archive capture of 15 September 2026 (web.archive.org/web/20260915075622id_/...); the live page returns 403 to this host. Express Investigation of 4 September 2026 with the list of the 25 and the police response.","independence_group":"indian-express-investigation"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.outlookindia.com/national/jantar-mantar-protest-25-people-flagged-by-facial-recognition-were-in-jail-records-show","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live on 2026-09-24 (Outlook India, 4 September 2026): relays the Express findings and the affidavit figures; same chain.","independence_group":"indian-express-investigation"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://internetfreedom.in/delhi-polices-facial-recognition-flagged-25-jailed-people-at-jantar-mantar-this-dragnet-must-end/","kind":"other","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live on 2026-09-24 (Internet Freedom Foundation, Apar Gupta, 4 September 2026): advocacy analysis that relays the Express findings (same chain for the 25) and adds IFF's own 2022 RTI replies on the 80 per cent threshold, its 24 July 2026 representation and RTI applications.","independence_group":"iff-own-rti"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://thefederal.com/the-federal-special/one-protest-two-probes-why-the-2873-person-fir-raises-questions-255688","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live on 2026-09-24 (The Federal, 4 September 2026): analysis of the Supreme Court order and the affidavit relying on the Express report; same chain.","independence_group":"indian-express-investigation"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["justice","public_services","privacy"],"unknowns":["Whether any of the 25 has been named in the fresh FIR, visited for field verification or otherwise acted against.","Whether the 25 (or the other 2,848 listed people) have been told they are on the list.","How many of the remaining 2,668 entries would fail the same check; the Express examined only the 205 most serious.","The vendor, algorithm and threshold actually applied at Jantar Mantar in July 2026.","The full text of the 17 August affidavit and the 1 September order (described as quoted).","Whether two or three of the four rape accused are POCSO cases: The Indian Express's narrative says two, its itemised list says three.","The protest window: The Indian Express and Outlook give 20 to 26 July; The Federal gives 20 to 25 July."],"geography":{"basis":"The protests and the facial-recognition deployment were at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi; the 25 were in Delhi's Tihar, Mandoli and Rohini prisons; the affidavit and order are in the Supreme Court of India (The Indian Express, IFF, The Federal).","court_countries":["IN"],"event_countries":["IN"],"affected_person_countries":["IN"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a contextual case in which an AI system made a consequential claim about identifiable people: a police facial-recognition system placed at least 25 people who were in prison at a protest, on a sworn list that the Supreme Court permitted police to act on. The finding rests on The Indian Express's records investigation (one chain, relayed by Outlook, IFF and The Federal) with the affidavit and order described as quoted; the 80 per cent threshold rests on IFF's 2022 RTI replies, which IFF says the Express also relies on. The listed people are not named.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-24"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"Delhi Police's own affidavit, as quoted by The Indian Express, attributes the 2,873 identifications to its Facial Recognition System matching faces against the 'Crime Kundli' biometric database and criminal records; the Express's records check shows the system logged at least 25 people who were in custody. The affidavit was not inspected directly.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["made_claim_about"]},"name":"Delhi: the police facial-recognition system logged at least 25 people who were in Tihar, Mandoli or Rohini jails as present at the Jantar Mantar student protests (20 to 26 July 2026), with timestamps on 24 to 26 July, on a sworn list of 2,873 persons with 'criminal antecedents' that the Supreme Court allowed police to register a fresh FIR against (Indian Express investigation, 4 September 2026)","summary":"In an affidavit of 17 August 2026 before the Supreme Court of India, Delhi Police said its Facial Recognition System (FRS) had identified 2,873 people with criminal antecedents at the Jantar Mantar protests of 20 to 26 July 2026 (2,402 through its 'Crime Kundli' biometric database and 471 through other criminal records). On 1 September the Court quashed the FIRs against the student protesters but let the police proceed against the 2,873; the police say any action will follow field verification. The Indian Express checked the 205 listed people facing murder, attempted-murder, rape or child-sexual-offence charges against police, prison and court records and found that at least 25 of them (17 accused of murder, four of rape (two or three under POCSO; the Express's narrative and its list differ), four of attempted murder) were lodged in Delhi's Tihar, Mandoli or Rohini prisons when the system logged them at the protest site with timestamps on 24, 25 and 26 July; some had been in custody for years. Delhi Police told the newspaper that further verification of the 2,873 was pending and, in its affidavit, that no action is taken solely on a facial-recognition result and that field verification follows each match. The police disclosed in 2022, in reply to a Right to Information request, that it treats a match with an 80 per cent similarity score as positive. Whether any of the 25 has since been named in the fresh FIR or visited for verification is not reported.","incidentDate":"2026-07-24","incidentEndDate":"2026-07-26","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"range","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2026-09-04","aiSystem":"Delhi Police Facial Recognition System (FRS): face-matching software run on protest footage against the police 'Crime Kundli' biometric database and other criminal records; the vendor and algorithm are not identified in the inspected reporting","aiProduct":"Unidentified facial recognition system","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["legal_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"At least 25 people in judicial custody were recorded by the police facial-recognition system as present at a protest they could not have attended and were placed, in a sworn affidavit before the Supreme Court, on a list of 2,873 persons with criminal antecedents against whom the Court permitted a fresh FIR and police field verification; The Indian Express reports the misidentifications and the Internet Freedom Foundation describes the exposure to verification visits and prosecution as the harm. No arrest, FIR entry or verification visit of any of the 25 is reported in the inspected sources.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":25,"affectedCountStatus":"documented_minimum","affectedCountEvidence":"The Indian Express states 'at least 25 people on the list' were in jail when logged, and lists them (17 murder, four rape, four attempted murder). The other 2,668 entries were not checked, so the count is a documented minimum of 25.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"IN","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"investigation_opened","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://indianexpress.com/article/express-exclusive/delhi-police-facial-recognition-jantar-mantar-protest-accused-in-jail-10862099/","primarySourceLabel":"The Indian Express, 4 September 2026: Police say cameras 'caught' murder, rape accused at CJP protest - some were actually in jail (Express Investigation)","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-24T03:46:45.247544+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:17:35.08761+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["facial-recognition","india","delhi","protest-surveillance","supreme-court","police","false-match","made-claim-about","jantar-mantar"]}]}