CCTVs not working, HC worried

Concerned over the lack of functional CCTV cameras around the India Gate roundabout in the Lutyens’ zone of the national capital, the Delhi high court, on Tuesday, said the accidents and hitandrun incidents remain untraced owing to lack of any information, including video footage, about such instances.

A two- judge bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar issued notice to the Centre, Delhi government, and police and sought their stand on the issue by July 31.

The court also asked them to give area- wise location of the CCTV cameras in the national capital along with information as to how many of them were functional. It said that in another matter relating to an accident outside the Supreme Court, it was assured that the cameras across the city would be made functional soon, “but there appears to be no change.”

The court issued the directions while adjudicating a PIL initiated by it on its own after receiving a letter from an AIIMS physiotherapist, claiming that on the night of June 28, a speeding vehicle had come towards his car from the opposite direction near India Gate circle, forcing him to stop. Thereafter, the driver of the other vehicle assaulted the physiotherapist and fled from the site, the letter said.

According to the letter, when he went to the police station to lodge a complaint, he was told the other vehicle could not be traced as there were no functional CCTV cameras in the area.

Terming the incident as “unfortunate,” the bench said if the cameras were functional then instances of “road rage would come to an end.”