India’s most controversial temple secured by facial recognition

On Wednesday, city authorities in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh officially inaugurated the Hindu temple of Ram, built on the ruins of a 16th-century mosque destroyed by violent mobs in 1992. The opening of the divisive temple has seen heightened security with local authorities deploying nearly 13,000 security officers, including anti-bomb squads and snipers, alongside facial recognition-equipped cameras.

One of the companies securing the temple area is Staqu Technologies, which is deploying its video analytics software named Jarvis. The platform uses facial recognition technology to match people in video footage with a database of 800,000 criminals available on Trinetra, an AI application developed by Staqu for the Uttar Pradesh Police Department. The system helps identify suspicious faces with an accuracy rate of 99.7 percent, according to Indian newspaper The Statesman.

The platform also performs attribute-based searches, automatic number plate recognition (ANPR), footfall analysis and violence detection.

“Staqu’s AI-powered Jarvis platform will monitor the event for threats and suspicious activities, providing real-time alerts to the authorities using already installed cameras,” says the company’s Co-founder and CEO Atul Rai. “With the expected large crowd and the presence of high-profile individuals, cutting-edge security services are paramount, and we are honored to be among the industry leaders delivering them.”

The Ayodhya Ram Mandir drew half a million visitors on the first day of its opening with police employing tools such as drones for crowd control and diversion. Terrorism is also one of the main concerns for the city’s police. The 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid mosque triggered some of the worst religious riots since India’s independence, with more than 2,000 people killed.

Also helping to secure Ayodhya will be 500 cameras provided by Finish computer vision company Mirasys. The 360-degree cameras will provide a view of critical crossings and key points of Ayodhya Dham, including the Ram temple, surveilling the area with facial recognition and crowd estimation.

“The capability of this unified AI-enabled platform helps data feeds from various parts of Ayodhya – with multi-tier encryption between the cameras and integrated command center – reach multiple viewing stations. This nullifies any hostile attack and data tampering,” says Mirasys India Managing Director Arindam Das Sarka.

Mirasys India started its operation in 2018 in Gurugram. The company provides 25 percent of Indian Railways’ video surveillance analytics and 30 percent of video surveillance in India’s smart cities, according to figures quoted by The Times of India.

Bhubaneswar receives new facial recognition policing tool

India’s other cities are also ramping up the installation of biometric surveillance in public spaces.

In Bhubaneswar, the capital of the state of Odisha, police have established a Unified Command and Control Center (UCCC) that will integrate different policing tools. These include surveillance-related features such as facial recognition, crowd estimation and abandoned objects detection, according to Sanjib Kumar Dash, managing director of VL Access India, the company behind the platform.

Aside from a wide range of smart city solutions, the Bhubaneswar-headquartered company offers facial recognition, video analytics and license plate recognition.

Unlike previous investigations in which police forces were forced to scan separate CCTV footage, the UCCC system will help local police access footage from different areas, tracking down suspects and vehicles. The system will integrate cameras in communities, private establishments and residential units allowing police authorities to quickly access citizen’s cameras during an investigation. At least 800 CCTV cameras in Bhubaneswar, 400 in Cuttack and 300 private cameras have been integrated with the setup, The Times of India reports.

The system will also aid crowd control by raising an alert if the crowd density is above a certain threshold.

Article Topics

biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  India  |  police  |  Staqu Technologies  |  video surveillance