India court weighs challenge to AI surveillance at student protest
Why it matters: The case could set limits on police facial-recognition use after protests that already forced the education minister out.
A legal challenge to police surveillance at India’s biggest youth protest in decades is moving ahead in the Delhi High Court, testing how far Narendra Modi’s government can go in monitoring demonstrators. Student activist Aishe Ghosh wants the court to rule that mass surveillance at last week’s protest over leaked exam papers was unconstitutional, order deletion of data gathered there and require rules for how such tools are used. The dispute centers on a mobile police van with cameras mounted on a telescopic mast and activists’ claims that facial-recognition checks lacked a legal basis. The protest ended after Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned, but judges heard arguments Monday and are due to continue the case Tuesday.