A moment at Mumbai airport has gone viral on social media after DigiYatra’s facial recognition system failed to distinguish between identical twin brothers, briefly denying them access at an automated entry gate.
Prashant Menon, who shared the incident on Instagram, said he and his twin brother were both registered DigiYatra users. “I am at the airport with my twin brother. We have both registered in DigiYatra. See the magic of DigiYatra. It says ‘Access denied’ because more than one person found with the same face,” he said in the video while standing near the gate.
Menon also added a plea in Hindi, jokingly asking, “Hum judwa logon ke liye kuch kijiye DigiYatra waalon (Please do something for us twins, DigiYatra).”
“DigiYatra ka bug humne identify kiya hai, DigiYatra humko allow nahi kar raha hai (We have identified the bug, DigiYatra is not allowing us),” another brother said.
The video highlighted a limitation of facial recognition technology, which can struggle with people who look extremely alike. But online, the incident sparked laughter as well as technical discussions.
One viewer commented, “Bro found an edge case in the wild – first person commented.” Another joked, “Bachpan me hum confuse hote the, ab DigiYatra ho gaya hai. Can’t blame them Else one of you can put a black mole on your cheek. Like apna purana Hindi movies .”
Another person, however, said that the system was doing the right thing “by flagging anomaly in the data point (your faces) and sending you for manual verification at counter.”
DigiYatra Foundation responded publicly to Menon, saying, “Dear Prashant, we appreciate you for highlighting this. We’ve reached out to you via DM with more details to assist further. Team DYF.”
