The Delhi high court on Wednesday declined to entertain a petition to direct the Delhi Police and Rapid Action Force (RAF) to wear body-worn cameras (BWCs) while carrying out crowd-control and protest duties, saying that there was “no grey area” concerning the use of such cameras.
A bench of acting chief justice Nitin Sambre and justice Arun Bhardwaj said that the legislature had incorporated specific statutory provisions wherever it intended to regulate the practice.
The court said that issuing a judicial order in this regard would have far-reaching effects.
Deep Dive
Why did the Delhi High Court decline to require Delhi Police to wear body cameras during protests?
What is the status of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for using body cameras by Delhi Police?
How are body cameras expected to affect accountability during protests conducted by Delhi Police?
“Why should we direct them to legislate? It cannot be said that it is a grey area that you want us to deal with. They have provided measures by incorporating a statutory provision, as and when the legislature had some intention… why do you feel that it is necessary to have some judicial order? We are not concerned about the Delhi police only, but we are concerned with the entire policing. It will have far-reaching…,” the court said.
However, the bench directed the Centre to consider the petition filed by one Chahat Raghav, a practising advocate, as representation and asked it to take a call on the petitions also seeking a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) governing the storage, integrity, retention and evidentiary use of footage recorded by the cameras in six months.
{{/usCountry}}However, the bench directed the Centre to consider the petition filed by one Chahat Raghav, a practising advocate, as representation and asked it to take a call on the petitions also seeking a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) governing the storage, integrity, retention and evidentiary use of footage recorded by the cameras in six months.
{{/usCountry}}“In view of the above, the respondents are directed to frame the SOP in the matter of operation in a period of six months from today,” it said.
What the Centre said
This was after Centre’s lawyer, additional solicitor general Chetan Sharma, along with standing counsel Ashish Dixit, told the court that a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) was already in place for protests at Jantar Mantar, including provisions for videography.
The law officer submitted that since the petitioner was seeking further changes to the SOP, they could make a representation to the concerned authorities, which could then be considered by the appropriate professional body. “It will have to be looked into by a professional body. There are concerns of use, misuse,” the law officer said.
Raghav, who claimed to have attended protests at Jantar Mantar and had first-hand experience of the use of force by Delhi Police and the RAF, through her lawyer Akhil Sibal, contended that BWCs were being used sporadically and thus there was a need for a comprehensive framework in view of various protests that had happened since 2020, including the recent protests by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP). Such direction, Sibal said, would fix accountability.
“This is essential, since the allegations keep surfacing. While the protest takes place, there is an allegation of excessive force used by police or protestors, running and violence on their end. We need a system so that the allegations are not left to private persons who are videographing,” Sibal added.