Hyderabad police force activist to remove COVID-19 mask

Telangana state, India, faces court action for the allegedly illegal use of facial recognition by its police forces when it forced social activist SQ Masood to remove his mask while he was returning home from work during the COVID-19 pandemic so that they could take his photograph and verify his identity.

Backed by the Internet Freedom Foundation, the June 2021 notice claimed Masood's photographs were likely being fed into a facial recognition database. It also argued that state use of facial recognition 'is not backed by law, is unnecessary, disproportionate, and is being done without any safeguards to prevent misuse'.

Police denied using facial recognition in this instance, saying Masood's photograph was not scanned against any database and that facial recognition has only been used during the investigation of a crime or suspected crime. 

Telangana state is said to have amongst the highest density of CCTV cameras in the world, and boasts the most known government facial recognition projects in India. Amnesty International has accused Hyderabad of becoming a 'total surveillance city'.