In mid-February, a daily wage worker died in a hospital in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, days after he was picked up by the police in connection with a case of robbery.
Mohammed Khadeer was detained because the police found he resembled the suspect in CCTV footage. Five days later, Khadeer was freed because the police were unsure whether they had the right man. But later, he died in hospital after recording a video in which he blamed his condition on torture in custody, a claim the police denied.
Khadeer was possibly detained because of dodgy footage. "The CCTV footage was not very clear because it was evening and it was dark," a police officer told Moneycontrol.
There are more than 1.5 million security cameras across 15 cities in India, according to Comparitech, a UK-based cyber security and privacy research firm. A combined population of 135.8 million in these cities works out to an average of 11 cameras per 1,000 people. Citizens believe they help reduce crime - though some studies show they are more useful in solving crimes than preventing them - but civil liberties groups warn of the perils of mass surveillance.
Some Indian cities are bristling with more cameras than others. Hyderabad has nearly 42 cameras per 1,000 people. Indore had the highest - 63 per 1,000 people. These two cities, along with the capital Delhi (26.7 cameras) and Chennai (24.53 cameras), were among the top most surveilled cities in the world, according to Comparitech.