Did CCTV play a part in misidentifying 'custodial torture victim' Mohammed Khadeer as a suspect?

The use of technologies such as CCTV cameras and facial recognition is error-prone, say experts. (Representative Image)

"The CCTV footage was not very clear because it was evening and it was dark," said a police officer when asked what led to the detention of Mohammed Khadeer, a Telangana resident, who died recently of injuries he suffered in alleged custodial torture by the police.

Police had picked up Khadeer, a daily wage worker in Medak, because he allegedly resembled a suspect in a chain snatching case caught on a CCTV camera. He was let off after the police ascertained he was not involved in the case, the police said.

The police officer admitted to Moneycontrol that the unclear footage may have led to the misidentification of Khadeer as suspect.

In a video message, Khadeer alleged that he had been subjected to custodial torture by the police when he was detained. He died last week of the purported injuries he suffered then.

Hyderabad has, for years, been one of the cities with most CCTV cameras, including many equipped with a facial recognition feature. The state administration has been evangelising the use of CCTVs, claiming that the systems help in fighting crime.

Not just Hyderabad, there has been a massive push towards the installation of surveillance technology in the entire country. If this recent incident is taken into consideration, it shows that technologies like CCTV can also harm citizens -- in this case, by playing a role in the misidentification of Khadeer as a suspect.

"Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) is concerned that with the continued use of such technologies, similar cases of misidentification will continue to occur, the irreversible consequences of which will have to be borne by innocent citizens of India like Mr. Khadeer and his family," Anushka Jain, policy counsel at IFF, told Moneycontrol.

The Telangana government has suspended the Medak Town police officers accused of torture and has ordered a high-level inquiry into the incident.

Moneycontrol reached out to Telangana’s Director General of Police (DGP) Anjani Kumar, Medak Superintendent of Police (SP) Rohini Priyadarshini, and attempted to contact police officials accused of torture with queries on the matter, and this article will be updated when a response is received.

The CCTV footage

Khadeer wasn't in Medak town when the police started investigating the chain snatching that took place there.

"The dress and personality of the person in the CCTV matched that of Khadeer. We verified the footage with locals --  they also said that he looked like Khadeer," the police official quoted in the first instance told Moneycontrol, explaining their reasons for zeroing in on Khadeer.

The Times of India quoted Medak SP Priyadarshini as saying that Khadeer had been picked up because his "facial features" matched that of a suspect on CCTV. She clarified to The Print that facial recognition technology was not used in the identification process.

This, coupled with the fact that the 35-year-old had a criminal record and the alleged similarity in facial features with the suspect, led the police to come to the conclusion that he had left town after committing the crime.

"We thought he did the robbery and left town," said the official. However, Khadeer had come to Yakutupura, in the southern part of Hyderabad, to visit a relative, from where he was picked up by the police.

"The police told us that the CCTV captured only the backside of the suspect in question. They told us that he had hair similar to Khadeer's. We asked for proof of the CCTV footage from the police, but we were not shown (the footage)," Mohammed Farooq, a relative of Khadeer, told Moneycontrol.

From January 29, Khadeer alleged that he was subjected to third-degree torture by the police, before being released on February 2.  A few days later, he was admitted to a hospital in Medak.

On February 12, with his condition worsening, he was shifted to the Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad. At the hospital, he issued a video statement alleging custodial torture. He passed away on February 16.

'Use of CCTV is error prone'

"Reports suggest that Mr. Khan was identified by the Police through the help of CCTV footage wherein the suspect was not clearly visible and through statements made by locals. However, it has now become clear that he was not the suspect that the police were looking for," Jain of IFF said.

"The use of technologies such as CCTV cameras and facial recognition is error-prone, as can be seen in the present case as well as similar cases around the world. However, the use of these technologies has expanded at a significant pace without transparency and accountability, across many cities in India,  and especially in Hyderabad," she said.