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The plea stated that their fears are exacerbated by the current reality of video footage morphing and abuse, as well as its possible dissemination on social media and the internet at large.
The Delhi High Court on Friday directed the Delhi Government to file its Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) followed for the live streaming of the CCTV cameras in Delhi government school classrooms.
The order was passed in a plea challenging the State government's order to install CCTV cameras inside classrooms of government schools and live-streaming of the same.
A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad also said that the concern pertaining to the right to privacy is not absolute and the safety of children is the top priority.
The bench was hearing a plea filed by the Delhi Parents Association and Government School Teachers Association, through Advocate Jai Dehadrai to quash and set aside the two cabinet decisions dated September 11, 2017, and December 11, 2017, passed by the State for the installation of CCTV cameras inside classrooms of government schools and consequent live-streaming of the same to third persons.
Over the issue of granting a stay on the live streaming of the CCTV, the bench said that the same cannot be granted and it will be considered after the SOP is filed by the Delhi Government. The bench has now listed the matter for further hearing on July 18.
Dehadrai highlighted three fundamental violations of the privacy inherent in the impugned decision. One of which is that the installation of CCTV cameras inside classrooms, without obtaining specific consent from either the students and their parents or the teachers is a gross and direct violation of the fundamental right to privacy as held in K.S Puttaswamy v. Union of India, he submitted.
The petitioner associations also opposed the idea of cross-sharing classroom footage with other parents and inevitably with unauthorized third persons.
Earlier, the Delhi Government had told the Delhi High Court that one of the major factors for the installation of CCTV cameras in classrooms is to ensure the safety and security of children studying in the schools.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, in its affidavit, stated that the installation of CCTV cameras was done in light of the rampant incidents of sexual abuse and bullying. It also stated that the CCTV camera does not infringe the right to privacy. “A reasonable expectation of privacy, though not surrendered in a public place, however, the expectation itself would vary from an intimate zone to a public space like a classroom”, the affidavit read.
The Delhi government submitted that the impugned decision was not a “knee-jerk reaction” to the child abuse reports in September 2017, it was planned and reviewed for more than two years prior to September 2017. "It was in the wake of incidents of child abuse reports, and an emergency meeting was called by Delhi, Chief Minister on September 11, 2017. During the meeting, in the interest of accountability towards parents and to ensure disciplined conduct in classrooms, the CM directed access to live/recorded feeds of children in the classroom to their parents", the affidavit mentioned.
Case Title: Delhi Parents Association & Anr. v. Government of NCT of Delhi & Ors.
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