diff --git a/python/_group_rectangles_with_aux.pyx b/python/_group_rectangles_with_aux.pyx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..13c655087bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/_group_rectangles_with_aux.pyx
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+""" Example of wrapping a C function that takes C float arrays as input using
+    the Numpy declarations from Cython """
+
+# import both numpy and the Cython declarations for numpy
+import numpy as np
+cimport numpy as np
+cimport cython
+
+np.import_array()
+
+# cdefine the signature of our c function
+cdef extern from "group_rectangles_with_aux.h":
+    int groupRectanglesWithAux(float* input, int group_threshold, float eps, \
+        float* output, int* scores, int nrows, int ncols)
+
+def execute(list linput, int group_threshold, float eps = 0.2):
+    cdef int nrows = len(linput)
+    cdef int ncols = np.PyArray_DIM(linput[0], 0)
+    cdef np.ndarray[float, ndim=2, mode="c"] input = np.empty((nrows, ncols), dtype=np.float32)
+    for i in range(nrows):
+        input[i, :] = linput[i]
+    cdef np.ndarray[float, ndim=2, mode="c"] output = np.empty((nrows, ncols), dtype=np.float32)
+    cdef np.ndarray[np.int32_t, ndim=2, mode="c"] scores = np.empty((nrows, 1), dtype=np.int32)
+
+    cdef int num_output = groupRectanglesWithAux(
+        <float*> np.PyArray_DATA(input),
+        group_threshold,
+        eps,
+        <float*> np.PyArray_DATA(output),
+        <int*> np.PyArray_DATA(scores),
+        nrows,
+        ncols)
+
+    if ncols > 4:
+      aux = output[:num_output, 4:]
+    else:
+      aux = None
+    return (np.rint(output[:num_output, :4]).astype(np.int32), aux, scores[:num_output])
diff --git a/python/group_rectangles_setup.py b/python/group_rectangles_setup.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..82b9b20ff28
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/group_rectangles_setup.py
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+from distutils.core import setup, Extension
+
+# define the extension module
+gr_module = Extension('group_rect_module', sources=['groupRectangles.cpp'])
+
+# run the setup
+setup(ext_modules=[gr_module])
diff --git a/python/group_rectangles_with_aux.cpp b/python/group_rectangles_with_aux.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..50bae407bff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/group_rectangles_with_aux.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+#include <vector>
+#include <iostream>
+
+#include <opencv2/objdetect/objdetect.hpp>
+
+using namespace std;
+
+using cv::Rect;
+
+class SimilarRects {
+public:
+    SimilarRects(double _eps) : eps(_eps) {}
+    inline bool operator() (const vector<float>& r1, const vector<float>& r2) const {
+        double delta = eps * (std::min(r1[2], r2[2]) + std::min(r1[3], r2[3])) * 0.5;
+        return std::abs(r1[0] - r2[0]) <= delta &&
+            std::abs(r1[1] - r2[1]) <= delta &&
+            std::abs(r1[0] + r1[2] - r2[0] - r2[2]) <= delta &&
+            std::abs(r1[1] + r1[3] - r2[1] - r2[3]) <= delta;
+    }
+    double eps;
+};
+
+int groupRectanglesWithAux(float* input, int groupThreshold, float eps,
+    float* output, int* scores, int nrows, int ncols) {
+  if (groupThreshold <= 0 || nrows == 0) {
+    return 0;
+  }
+
+  vector<vector<float> > rectList(nrows, vector<float>(ncols));
+  for (int i = 0; i < nrows; ++i) {
+    int base_index = i * ncols;
+    for (int j = 0; j < ncols; ++j) {
+      if (j < 4) {
+        rectList[i][j] = cv::saturate_cast<int>(input[base_index + j]);
+      } else {
+        rectList[i][j] = input[base_index + j];
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  vector<int> labels;
+  int nclasses = cv::partition(rectList, labels, SimilarRects(eps));
+  vector<vector<float> > frects(nclasses, vector<float>(ncols));
+  vector<int> rweights(nclasses, 0);
+  int nlabels = (int) labels.size();
+  for (int i = 0; i < nlabels; i++)  {
+    int cls = labels[i];
+    for (int j = 0; j < ncols; ++j) {
+      frects[cls][j] += rectList[i][j];
+    }
+    rweights[cls]++;
+  }
+
+  for (int i = 0; i < nclasses; i++) {
+    float s = 1.f / rweights[i];
+    for (int j = 0; j < ncols; ++j) {
+      float scaled = frects[i][j] * s;
+      if (j < 4) {
+        frects[i][j] = cv::saturate_cast<int>(scaled);
+      } else {
+        frects[i][j] = scaled;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  int j;
+  int num_output = 0;
+  for (int i = 0; i < nclasses; i++) {
+    int r1 = i;
+    int n1 = rweights[i];
+    if (n1 <= groupThreshold)
+      continue;
+    // filter out small face rectangles inside large rectangles
+    for (j = 0; j < nclasses; j++) {
+      int n2 = rweights[j];
+
+      if (j == i || n2 <= groupThreshold)
+        continue;
+      int r2 = j;
+      int dx = cv::saturate_cast<int>(frects[r2][2] * eps);
+      int dy = cv::saturate_cast<int>(frects[r2][3] * eps);
+
+      if (i != j &&
+          frects[r1][0] >= frects[r2][0] - dx &&
+          frects[r1][1] >= frects[r2][1] - dy &&
+          frects[r1][0] + frects[r1][2] <= frects[r2][0] + frects[r2][2] + dx &&
+          frects[r1][1] + frects[r1][3] <= frects[r2][1] + frects[r2][3] + dy &&
+          (n2 > std::max(3, n1) || n1 < 3))
+        break;
+    }
+
+    if (j == nclasses) {
+      for (int k = 0; k < ncols; ++k) {
+        output[num_output * ncols + k] = frects[r1][k];
+      }
+      scores[num_output] = n1;
+      num_output++;
+    }
+  }
+
+  return num_output;
+}
diff --git a/python/group_rectangles_with_aux.h b/python/group_rectangles_with_aux.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f6044841ac3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/group_rectangles_with_aux.h
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+int groupRectanglesWithAux(float* input, int group_threshold, float eps,
+    float* output, int* scores, int nrows, int ncols);
+
diff --git a/python/setup_group_rectangles_with_aux.py b/python/setup_group_rectangles_with_aux.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..010e980f619
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/setup_group_rectangles_with_aux.py
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+from distutils.core import setup
+from distutils.extension import Extension
+from Cython.Distutils import build_ext
+from Cython.Build import cythonize
+import numpy
+import subprocess
+
+process = subprocess.Popen(
+    ['pkg-config', '--libs', 'opencv'],
+    stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
+out, err = process.communicate()
+libs = [lib for lib in str(out).split() if '.' in lib]
+opencv_path = set(['/'.join(lib.split('/')[:-2]) for lib in libs]).pop()
+print 'Your opencv path:', opencv_path
+
+setup(
+  cmdclass = {'build_ext': build_ext},
+  ext_modules = [Extension(
+    "group_rectangles_with_aux",
+    language = "c++",
+    sources = ["_group_rectangles_with_aux.pyx", "group_rectangles_with_aux.cpp"],
+    include_dirs=[numpy.get_include(), opencv_path + '/include'],
+    extra_link_args=libs)]
+)
diff --git a/python/test_group_rect.py b/python/test_group_rect.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..10fb22ed340
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/test_group_rect.py
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+import numpy as np
+import cv2
+import group_rectangles_with_aux
+import random
+
+num_trials = 10000
+num_rectangles = 500
+arena_size = 100.0
+square_size = 10.0
+gt = 1
+eps = 0.8
+use_aux = True
+
+for t in range(num_trials):
+  opencv_gr = []
+  my_gr = []
+  for r in range(num_rectangles):
+    e = np.array([
+        random.random() * arena_size, random.random() * arena_size,
+        random.random() * square_size, random.random() * square_size])
+    ec = np.concatenate([e, np.array([random.random(), random.random()])])
+    opencv_gr.append(e)
+    my_gr.append(ec if use_aux else e)
+
+  output1, scores1 = cv2.groupRectangles(opencv_gr, gt, eps)
+  output2, aux2, scores2 = group_rectangles_with_aux.execute(my_gr, gt, eps)
+  if len(output1) == 0:
+    assert len(output2) == 0
+  else:
+    try:
+      assert (output1 == output2).all()
+    except:
+      print 'opencv'
+      print output1
+      print 'mine'
+      print output2
+      print 'diff'
+      print output1.shape, output2.shape
+      print output1 - output2
+      raise
+  if len(scores1) == 0:
+    assert len(scores2) == 0
+  else:
+    try:
+      assert (scores1 == scores2).all()
+    except:
+      print 'opencv'
+      print scores1
+      print 'mine'
+      print scores2
+      print 'diff'
+      print scores1.shape, scores2.shape
+      print scores1 - scores2
+      raise
+  if t % (num_trials / 20) == 0:
+    print 'passed', t