How can CCTV visuals of Armstrong’s murder be played on television channels, asks Justice Anand Venkatesh of Madras High Court

Madras High Court judge expresses shock over CCTV footage of murder being widely telecast, raising concerns over privacy violations.

Justice N. Anand Venkatesh of the Madras High Court on Monday expressed shock over CCTV camera footage related to the murder of BSP Tamil Nadu president K. Armstrong having been telecast widely in almost all Tamil television channels on Sunday.

Presiding over a special Division Bench along with Justice Sunder Mohan to hear a case against the revealing of the identity of minor victims of sexual assault, Justice Venkatesh said that the CCTV visuals were a crucial piece of electronic evidence in the murder case, and hence, it was “unfortunate” that they were played on television.

When the judge was told about the right to privacy of minor victims of sexual assault being violated time and again due to the revelation of their identity and private details, the judge lamented that the system was so opaque that nothing remained a secret and, in the process, the word ‘privacy’ lost its meaning completely.

“The way in which they started publicising that murder in all media yesterday, it is very unfortunate that these things keep happening. What type of a system are we having?” the judge wondered, referring to the visuals played on television after the killing of one of the murder suspects in an alleged police encounter on Sunday.

He went on to state: “What is it that the police are attempting to prove? People will keep on criticising and keep on saying something. That does not mean that you will show every aspect of the murder inch-by-inch on television just to justify the killing of one of the suspects in an encounter.”

The judge also said that if all the important information collected during the course of the investigation of a criminal case gets leaked like this, and the identity of the suspects is revealed by the media, it will become very tough for the criminal courts of justice to convict them after a full-fledged trial.

Justice Venkatesh said that the next danger the judiciary was anticipating was the requirement to record on video the statements of witnesses as well as victims, as per the provisions of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, which had replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure from July 1.