The Delhi High Court has said that closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed at police stations across the State should also have audio recording facility in compliance with a 2020 Supreme Court directive, and asked why it had not been implemented at a local police station.
The court of Justice Anu Malhotra on May 27 observed that in view of the Supreme Court verdict in the Paramvir Singh Saini Vs. Baljit Singh & Others, the CCTV systems had to be equipped with night vision and “must necessarily consist of audio as well as video footage”.
Seeking an explanation on why the audio footage system had not been installed so far at the Nabi Karim Police Station, the court ordered that compliance in terms of the Supreme Court’s directions be placed on record without default by the State for the next date of hearing, which is scheduled for July 27.
The court also directed the submission of a status report with respect to a petition filed by Mohammed Arshad Ahmad through his lawyer M. Sufian Siddiqui, who had also raised the issue of CCTV cameras.
The petitioner sought a direction to the Station House Officer (SHO) of Nabi Karim Police Station to comply with the Delhi High Court’s judgment in August 2020 by providing adequate police protection to him in the discharge of his official and religious duties as an imam of a mosque located in Paharganj
He has also prayed for a directive to the SHO to secure/preserve the footage, both audio and video, of cameras installed in the police station, especially inside the SHO’s room, and place it on record before the court related to an incident on May 1 afternoon, in accordance with the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Paramvir Singh Saini case. The petitioner requested legal action against Mohammed Nasir and his associate, Parvez Noor, for allegedly threatening him in the SHO’s presence.
The respondents contended that there was only a heated exchange between the two parties and that the SHO had called them to the police station for maintenance of peace and harmony between them on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr.
