CCTV feed should go to cops: HC

New Delhi, Feb. 9: Live feed from CCTV cameras installed in the city should go to the police, the Delhi high court said on Tuesday as the AAP government sought that it should be allowed to share it.

“If you see something happening, who will respond? Delhi police or a legislator? The Delhi police should get direct feed as it will do the real- time monitoring,” a bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva said after Delhi government and the police disagreed over sharing of the feed.

The police contended that policing was its preserve and the city government’s offer to set up CCTVs was a “surreptitious Trojan horse” to “encroach” into its domain. It also refused to share the feed from the cameras with Delhi government.

The AAP government said it was willing to set up the CCTVs at a fraction of the price quoted by the police as long as it too gets to share the video feed.

The bench, thereafter, said the object behind setting up CCTVs was to strengthen safety and security.

It also said the police has also to be monitored to see whether it was doing its job, and sought a report from Delhi police on whether cameras have been set up in police stations, especially those which cover 44 locations in the city identified as sensitive. It observed that every inch of the capital cannot be covered by CCTVs, as it was a double edged sword of maintaining safety and security, but also giving rise to privacy concerns.

The high court said it would discuss the issue on February 17.