The Delhi High Court has refused to mandate the use of body cameras for security personnel during protests, citing the need for the Union government to decide on a public interest litigation within six months. This decision comes amidst fresh protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar following allegations of sexual harassment by three women journalists.
On Wednesday, the Delhi High Court declined to mandate the police and Rapid Action Force personnel deployed during protests to wear body cameras, as reported by Bar and Bench. Instead, the court treated the public interest litigation as a representation and directed the Union government to decide on it within six months. The petitioner can approach the court again if the government does not act on the direction, said a bench of Acting Chief Justice Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Justice Arun Bhardwaj. Live Law reported this development as well.
The petition was filed in the aftermath of the July protests against alleged irregularities in the conduct of competitive examinations. The court's decision comes amidst fresh protests in various parts of the country, including against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, following allegations of sexual harassment by three women journalists.
During the July protests, several protesters marching to Parliament on July 20 were injured after the security personnel used lathis, fired tear gas, and pellet guns to disperse the crowd. The petitioner, who had attended the protest, said that the evidence of security personnel allegedly using excessive force against petitioners was based largely on unauthenticated mobile phone videos recorded by bystanders, as reported by Bar and Bench.
The protests against alleged mismanagement of several competitive examinations had begun on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign staged a demonstration at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar to demand the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union education minister at the time. Pradhan resigned as the education minister on July 25.
On July 20, thousands joined the protest. This came two days after the police forcibly took activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike for three weeks, to hospital.
The police action during the Parliament march turbocharged the agitation, which spread to other parts of the country. In Bihar, three persons were injured when the police opened fire during a demonstration on July 25 in Siwan district after protesters allegedly threw stones at them. The police had also opened fire during violent protests in Jehanabad on July 23.
Source:
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