On February 10, 2025, security cameras captured a raid at a popular TACOnganas food truck in Memphis, US. The footage showed four men in civilian clothes and tactical gear taking away restaurant workers. The men displayed no badges, wore no nameplates and carried no paperwork identifying themselves or explaining the action.The restaurant’s owners posted the footage online, saying they had no way of knowing whether their workers had been abducted by armed criminals or detained by law enforcement. The video quickly went viral, after which officials confirmed the operation had been carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).The episode triggered a debate in the US over whether law enforcement officers should be allowed to conceal their identities during routine enforcement operations. Several states and federal lawmakers have since moved to restrict or regulate the practice.ALSO READ: Jantar Mantar CJP Protest Live UpdatesOne year, five months and ten days later, nearly 12,800 km away in Delhi, videos showing Delhi Police and Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel in civilian clothes or without visible nameplates during protests at Jantar Mantar have sparked a similar, though not identical, debate over police identification and accountability.What happened during the CJP protests on Monday?The protests organised by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) over the NEET paper leak and demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan swelled beyond expectations on Monday. As the crowd marched towards Parliament, the police lathicharged it, leading to violent clashes between police and protestors. Both the police and members of the crowd sustained injuries. Some protestors are still in the ICU.Who are these lathi-armed goons in plainclothes @DelhiPolice? Who have you hired on your force to beat us up? Why are such monsters called police in India? pic.twitter.com/h3pXcz3RKQ— Cockroach is Back (@Cockroachisback) July 20, 2026By evening, videos circulating on social media appeared to show unidentified men in civilian clothes wielding standard police lathis and assaulting demonstrators. The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) questioned the Delhi Police on social media, asking, “Who are these lathi-armed goons in plainclothes? Who have you hired to beat us up?”Other videos appeared to show uniformed Delhi Police and RAF personnel without visible nameplates. In the clips, protesters are seen filming officers and asking, “Where is your nameplate? Please answer us,” while the personnel do not respond.Delhi Police has not responded publicly to the allegations or the videos.Story continues below this adIs it legal to hide identification?While certain operations, such as those involving intelligence collection, genuinely require hiding identification or even impersonation, regular policing is guided by statutory procedure and judicial guidelines.MUST READ | What I saw at Jantar Mantar protest after the tear gas shells landedThe maintenance of public order and tranquillity is governed by Chapter XI of the BNSS (Sections 148 to 160, formerly Chapter X of the CrPC). While it does not specifically state whether policemen or armed forces personnel are required to identify themselves during a law and order situation, sources said, the very fact that the law allows only a magistrate or a “police officer” to disperse a crowd implies identification. The argument is that an unidentified crowd of armed men cannot legally demand a public gathering to disperse. “If a police officer is unidentifiable, his command to disperse cannot carry statutory weight,” said a criminal lawyer practising in Delhi.In DK Basu vs State of West Bengal (1997), the Supreme Court laid down detailed safeguards for arrests and detention, including the requirement that the arresting officer bear clear and visible identification. Although the ruling addressed arrests rather than crowd control, lawyers say it reflects the broader judicial emphasis on the identifiability of police officers while exercising coercive powers.In August 2025, the Andhra Pradesh High Court, while hearing a petition filed by YSRCP MLA Nallapareddy Prasanna Kumar Reddy, questioned how citizens were expected to recognise plainclothes personnel as police officers while they were performing official duties. Reddy, who was facing charges of obstructing a police officer in discharging his duty, had argued that the police officers were not in uniform.Then why does the police avoid identification?Story continues below this adPolice officers argue that visible identification can expose individual personnel to prolonged litigation, online harassment and even threats to their families.Also in Explained | The journey of Sonam Wangchuk, the activist: Education to ecology to politics“This practice originated in conflict theatres such as Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Chhattisgarh, where personnel often avoided displaying nameplates or rank insignia because they could make them easier targets for militants. Over time, it appears to have filtered into routine policing,” said a former Delhi Police officer.He added that while the practice may be understandable in exceptional security situations, its extension to ordinary law-and-order duties remains contentious.How does this compare with ICE? Masked federal agents arrest a protester during an active immigration enforcement operation in a Minneapolis neighbourhood, Jan. 13, 2026. (David Guttenfelder/The New York Times)The debate surrounding the Delhi Police deployment echoes, but does not mirror, the controversy over ICE operations in the United States.Story continues below this adIn both cases, the central concern is accountability: whether law enforcement personnel exercising coercive powers should remain visibly identifiable to the public. Videos of plainclothes or unidentified personnel using force inevitably raise questions about oversight, attribution of responsibility and avenues for legal redress.The contexts, however, are different. The ICE controversy centred on immigration enforcement operations involving arrests, while the Delhi videos emerged from a public-order situation involving crowd control during a protest.In the US, the backlash against increasingly aggressive ICE operations prompted nationwide protests and legislative action. Congress introduced the Stop Hiding Behind Masks and Plainclothes Act, which seeks to require Department of Homeland Security and ICE personnel to display visible agency identification and badge numbers while restricting the use of face coverings during routine enforcement operations. California has also enacted a law restricting federal immigration officers in the state from concealing their identities while carrying out enforcement duties, although it has been challenged by the federal government.