Their Faces, Someone Else's Story: Delhi Residents Speak Out on Duplicate Image Use in Official Schemes

Priya Sharma, a 34-year-old schoolteacher from Laxmi Nagar, first noticed something was wrong when her neighbour showed her a pamphlet for a Delhi government skilling programme. Her photograph — taken at a community health camp in Shahdara two years ago — was printed alongside a testimonial she had never given. She had signed no release form. Nobody had called her.

Her experience is not isolated. Across several east and west Delhi constituencies, residents have raised similar complaints about photographs taken at public events, metro inaugurations, and ward-level meetings turning up in unrelated promotional materials. The complaints have reached local ward offices and, in at least one case documented by a Resident Welfare Association in Rohini Sector 11, a formal written objection was submitted to the Delhi State Legal Services Authority in June 2026.

A Problem Amplified by Scheme Season

The timing matters. With Delhi Metro Phase 4 corridor work advancing toward the Janakpuri West–RK Ashram Marg stretch, and the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government rolling out several pre-election welfare announcements, the volume of printed and digital promotional material circulating across the capital has spiked sharply in recent months. Ward-level campaign literature, scheme brochures distributed through mohalla clinics, and digital hoardings near Connaught Place and Karol Bagh have all used stock-style community imagery — some of it apparently sourced without documented consent.

The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, passed by the central government in 2023 and notified for phased enforcement through 2025, explicitly requires consent before processing any personal data, including photographic images of identifiable individuals. Legal advocates working with the Delhi-based organisation Internet Freedom Foundation have pointed out in public filings that the use of identifiable photographs in promotional material for named government schemes almost certainly falls within the Act's scope — yet enforcement mechanisms at the municipal and state level remain underdeveloped.

Residents in Old Delhi's Ballimaran neighbourhood, where several mohalla clinic outreach drives have been photographed by official government communications teams, say they were told their images would be used only for internal health department records. At least three people spoken to by this reporter described discovering their likenesses on hoardings or WhatsApp-circulated flyers for programmes unrelated to the health visit where they were photographed. None wished to be identified by name for this report, citing concerns about local political friction.

What Residents Are Demanding — and What the Rules Actually Say

The Rohini Sector 11 RWA's June 2026 complaint to the Delhi State Legal Services Authority asked for three things: a public register of all photographs used in state-funded promotional materials, a mandatory opt-in consent form for any image captured at government-organised events, and a dedicated grievance cell within the Delhi government's Information and Publicity Department. The DSLSA acknowledged receipt of the complaint on June 18, 2026, according to the RWA's own communication records.

Under the 2023 data protection framework, individuals are entitled to withdraw consent and request erasure of their personal data. In practice, navigating that process requires written applications, knowledge of which department holds the original images, and persistence through bureaucratic layers that most working-class residents in areas like Seemapuri or Trilokpuri are unlikely to have time to manage.

For anyone who believes their image has been used without consent in a Delhi government scheme or political campaign material, the Delhi State Legal Services Authority at Patiala House Courts offers free legal aid consultations on weekdays between 10 am and 1 pm. Complaints can also be filed with the Data Protection Board of India, which began accepting public grievances in early 2026, through its online portal. The National Human Rights Commission has historically accepted complaints relating to dignity violations, and its office on Mansingh Road in central Delhi handles walk-in submissions.

The Rohini RWA has given authorities until August 15, 2026 — Independence Day — to respond substantively to its June complaint. If no action follows, members say they intend to approach the Delhi High Court. For Priya Sharma in Laxmi Nagar, the legal framework feels abstract. She wants one thing: her face removed from a pamphlet for a scheme she never enrolled in.