Supreme Court is Angry : and rightly so !

 

   

 

Context :

SC pulls up Centre for delay in installation of CCTV cameras in offices of CBI, NIA, ED  /   Tribune /  02 Mar

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Extact :

The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up the Centre for “dragging its feet” over installation of CCTV cameras in the offices of investigating agencies such as CBI, ED and NIA even as Solicitor General Tushar Mehta sought more time to implement the court’s December 2 order.

“We are getting a distinct impression that you (government) are dragging your feet,” a Bench headed by Justice RF Nariman told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.

Noting that the issue concerned the rights of citizens, the top court said it was not ready to accept the excuses offered in the Centre’s letter seeking adjournment.

In a move aimed at checking police brutality, the Supreme Court had on December 2 last year ordered the Centre, States and Union Territories to install CCTVs with night vision cameras in each police station, including central probe agencies such as CBI, ED, NIA, etc. across India.

"The State and Union Territory Governments should ensure that CCTV cameras are installed in each and every police station functioning in the respective State and/or Union Territory. In addition, the Union of India is also directed to install CCTV cameras and recording equipment in the offices of CBI, NIA, ED, NCB, DRI, SFIO and any other agency which carries out interrogations and has the power of arrest," it had said.

On Tuesday, Mehta sought adjournment of the case as the issue may have ramifications.

“We are not concerned about the ramifications…This concerns the rights of citizens…We are not accepting the excuses,” the top court told the Solicitor General and sought to know about allocation of funds for installation of CCTVs in the offices of the central probe agencies.

After perusing a report placed before it by senior advocate and amicus curiae Siddharth Dave on the timeline of different states to comply with its direction, the court gave three weeks to the Centre to file an affidavit on the issue.

The December 2, 2020 order had come in a case relating to CCTV installation in police stations and examination of witnesses by police. The CCTV installation was revived by the top court following a case of custodial torture in Punjab.

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MY TAKE :

Of Course, Supreme Court has right to get angry, considering that its directive in this matter is nearly 3 years old

Torturing a “ suspected criminal “ to get him to admit his ( alleged – and yet unproven ) crime , has been outlawed in most countries around the world. I believe, this method is illegal even in India

But everyone knows that torturing is rampant in police-stations, all over India

According to police, the legally approved methods ( interrogation /  investigation / evidence collection / deposition by witnesses / circumstantial evidence etc ) are TOO SLOW / TOO TIME CONSUMING and often unsustainable in a court of law

But none of these can be excuse for resorting to torture, which is, without doubt, a violation of Human Rights

Having said that, allow me to add :

Ø  By all means, installing CCTVs at all ( 16,000 ) Police Stations will go a long way in reducing torture – even if it fails to eliminate it completely. To resort to torture, Police Station In-Charges will find hundreds of “ reasons “ for non-functioning of CCTVs / recording equipment

Ø  Monitoring / watching CCTV cameras on LIVE / REAL-TIME basis will require LAKHS of “ human vigilante “, on 24x7 basis. They need to be trained in deciphering the footage where torture ( even verbal abusing / threatening – and not physical ) SEEMS to be taking place    

 

RELATED READINGS :

 

Ø  CCTV in Police Stations . Tomorrow Everywhere ……[ 19 Sept 2020 ]

Ø  Supreme Surveillance Solution ?.............................[ 05 Dec 2020 ]

 

Extract :

 # We have a total of some 16,671 police stations spread among 718

    districts ( ave of 23 / district )

     

#   Each police station may need 20 CCTV cameras , ie., 460  cameras per

     district ( 23 x 20 )

     

#  Recording for say 12 hours / day, amounts to a CCTV footage of 5520

    hours / day, to be reviewed by the District Committee Members for

    “ human rights violation

        

#  From a video / audio, how does a human detect / conclude a “ human

    rights violation “ ?  

 

I urge the Supreme Court to consider,

 

     Integration with those lakhs of CCTV cameras , a ( human independent ) technology-based software which can detect in a VIDEO-RECORDING, the “ human emotions “ listed above and then alert ( by automatically e-mailing that offensive portion of a VIDEO-CLIP ) to Human Rights Commission / District – State level Oversight Committees Members / any other designated persons or agencies , along with full details of :

 

      #   District / Police Station Number

      #   Name – Rank of interrogating Police Officer

     #    Name / Aadhar ID of suspect being interrogated

     #    Date / Time of interrogation

     #    Suspected Offence for which being interrogated

     #    FIR No

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Dear Shri Amitbhai Shah,

I urge you to consider exhaustive solution ( described in my above-mentioned e mail ) which :

Ø  Will be cost - effective / practical

Ø  Will not require training thousands of persons to visually “ monitor “ those lakhs of CCTV cameras

Ø  Being “ technology – based “ ( non-human “ based ) , it will not get biased

Ø  It will automatically “ alert “ authorities / lawyers / watchdog committee members for violations

Ø  It will satisfy the Supreme Court being first of its kind in the entire world

 

With regards,

Hemen Parekh  /  hcp@RecruitGuru.com  /  08 March 2021