Delhi HC serves notice to state govt on plea against live-streaming of classrooms
India Today
The Delhi government has been issued a notice by the Delhi High Court in response to a plea challenging the installation of CCTV cameras in school classrooms and the live streaming of its footage.
The Delhi High Court issued a notice to the Delhi Government and others in response to a petition contesting the installation of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras inside government school classrooms and the subsequent live-streaming of such video material to third parties on Tuesday. For further hearing, the division bench has listed the matter for March 30, 2022.
The installation of 1.5 lakh CCTV cameras within government and private school classrooms, as well as the broadcast of live stream footage from such cameras to unauthorised individuals has been challenged by the petition.
It alleges that the state government's decision is in violation of articles 14, 19, and 21 of the Constitution of India.
The petition pointed to three major privacy violations in the contested judgement. These are:
The petition states that the CCTV cameras were installed in the classrooms without taking the consent of parents or teachers.
The petition alleged that this is a gross and direct violation of the Fundamental Right to Privacy as held in the 9-Judge Constitutional Bench decision of the apex court.
Such consent must be informed, specific and thus cannot be a one-time broad-based and all-encompassing parental authorization.
