HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court has issued a notice to the state government in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the deployment of Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) in the state.
The PIL was filed by a Hyderabad -based social activist SQ Masood arguing that the deployment of Facial Recognition Technology "is not backed by law, is unnecessary, disproportionate, and is being done without any safeguards in place to prevent misuse."
A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili issued the notice to the state government, Live Law reported.
According to the legal news portal, the petitioner moved the High Court with this PIL after he was stopped by several police officers in Hyderabad while he was returning home from work in May 2021 and he was directed to remove his mask even though the pandemic was ongoing, and Hyderabad was reporting a large number of cases.
The police officers wanted him to remove his mask because they wanted to take his photograph, and though he refused they captured his picture anyway, the petitioner claimed.
The PIL (drawn with the legal assistance provided by the 'Internet Freedom Foundation') states that Telangana is the most surveilled place in the world, and the State Government had been deploying Facial Recognition Technology without any legal basis for a range of purposes including but not limited to law enforcement, supplying essential services, and elections, the portal reported.