Big Brother’s watching you: AAP govt’s mega project to install about 3 lakh CCTV cameras

On Monday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal directed the Public Works Department (PWD) to expeditiously buy 1.5 lakh CCTV cameras for installation around residential and commercial complexes across Delhi.

This is in addition to the 1.4 lakh eyes in the sky’ that his AAP government is installing in these areas. The Rs 571-crore project aims to have at least 4,000 such cameras in each of the 70 Assembly constituencies of Delhi. By July 31, the government intends to finish installing 20,000 CCTV cameras.

Women’s safety is our top priority. We will do everything to ensure our sisters and mothers are secure when they step out. The project is an important step in this direction. Let us speed it up, Kejriwal said at a review meeting.

Rs 400 crore is also being spent on installing such cameras in 1,000 Delhi government schools. Already, 4,388 CCTV cameras monitored by the Delhi Police are installed in police stations, court premises, markets and other sensitive areas.

An additional 2.45 lakh are there across the city under a community policing initiative called Nigehbaan’. As the AAP government races against time to keep its poll promise, ahead of the state
elections due in February, the National Capital is slowly getting covered in a complex mesh of surveillance lenses. And there already is fierce debate.

One section feels the move will result in enhanced security through better crime prevention, detection and investigation.

Critics fear poor data handling that may lead to a breach of privacy, cyberstalking and even a surveillance state. Political commentator Pratap Bhanu Mehta expressed his criticism by saying that people who were opposed to the Centre’s Aadhaar project over privacy concerns should now stand up to the AAP government’s move as well.

Frankly, I think it’s a nightmare that we’re going to put cameras in classrooms, Mehta was quoted in news reports earlier this month. The PWD, the implementing agency, has, however, said that it will keep camera feed and share it with the Delhi Police on a case-to-case basis.

Only parents will be given access to live footage through a mobile app. The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), a privacy advocacy group, said that there was no study globally to prove that CCTV cameras deter crime.

In a legal notice served to CM Kejriwal last month, IFF termed the project a dangerous and irrational approach to the issues of crime against women and public safety. The project is illegal as it fails to meet the constitutional guarantee of privacy and such indiscriminate use of CCTV systems creates a surveillance state, said the legal notice served by IFF’s executive director Apar Gupta.

As per the plan, camera feed will be made accessible to one RWA member, PWD officials, the Delhi Police and a representative of the company that is installing and maintaining the cameras.

The project is being implemented without any underlying legal framework that would have prevented abuse and ensured proper safeguards. For instance, the footage will be made available to private RWA individuals. It doesn’t come with any limitation. It can be misused for cyberstalking, thereby being counterproductive to the very goal of women’s safety, Gupta told Mail Today.

The AAP government has acknowledged the IFF notice through the CM’s OSD and forwarded it to the PWD minister. We have not responded yet. CCTV cameras are being installed individually as well. Where does the privacy issue come from? asked an official familiar with the project.

IFF terms the project a voyeur’s dream, a stalker’s paradise and warns the government of legal action for violation of fundamental rights and misuse of public funds if the authorities don’t withdraw it. It challenged the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that forms the framework for the project, asserting that it violates a Supreme Court judgment.

In August, the top court held that the right to privacy was a fundamental constitutional right. Supreme Court advocate Udayaditya Banerjee told Mail Today that the government may call it a public interest plan, but its implementation means citizens would be watched continuously.

From a democratic standpoint, you can have CCTV cameras at specific points like traffic signals. But who will access and own footage from so many cameras? he asked. Former Delhi Police officer LN Rao also has his concerns.

Too early to comment on the efficiency of CCTV cameras. But can they prevent crime? It remains to be seen, he said. The project has also faced political opposition with BJP questioning its timing. It’s a fraud on the people of Delhi This is being done to show that Kejriwal’s government is working. After failing to fulfil promises, efforts are being made to mislead people before elections. This should have been done long back, said Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari. But residents have mixed responses. It will create fear among criminals, said Vishal Rastogi, a businessman in East Delhi’s Patparganj where installation has been done.

Other areas were the project has been rolled out include Badli, Madipur, Timarpur, Babarpur, Rohtas Nagar, Shakur?Basti and Seemapuri. Most residents and shopkeepers have CCTV cameras installed. Having a camera which is accessible by the police and the government is dangerous.

It may be a breach of an individual’s privacy, said Rameez Raza who teaches at a college in South Delhi’s Alaknanda. Kejriwal said the concerns are being raised by those who want to scuttle the project. What is privacy inside a classroom or on a road? Even courts have rejected such petitions, he told Mail Today.

On Friday, the Supreme Court rejected a plea that challenged the installation of CCTV cameras in schools. After the order, however, the Government School Teachers' Association (GSTA) sent a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind against the installation of CCTV cameras in classrooms.

This is a violation of personal liberty and freedom of students and teachers," said GSTA general secretary Ajay Veer Yadav.

Two CCTV cameras are being installed in each classroom. The project was inaugurated at a school in South Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar where 211 cameras have been installed. Kalpana Viswanath, co-founder and CEO of SafetiPin mobile app and an activist on urban safety and gender issues, said CCTV cameras develop fear among criminals and help in investigations.

"High-resolution cameras must be installed to ensure footage helps in the speedy investigation. The government should have them in vulnerable areas identified by women themselves. If the entire city is covered, it will definitely prevent crime, she said.

Priyanka Singh, founder of BAYA (Be As You Are), an organisation against sexual harassment, agreed. "With CCTV cameras installed across the city, women will feel empowered as it will help in delivering justice to victims. Now even the Delhi Police will have a supporting system that will help them in the investigation.

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