You’re quick to put CCTV cameras for Obama, why not for Indians: Delhi High Court to government

The Delhi High Court on Friday said the government had “not acted so fast” when it came to the security of citizens.

Noting that the government had installed CCTV cameras in Delhi for the visit of US President Barack Obama, the Delhi High Court on Friday said the government had “not acted so fast” when it came to the security of citizens.

“Because of a foreign president, you do it, but not for Indian citizens. If we direct you to do it for Indians, you do in months and years, else you do it in weeks. Let’s get someone from outer space,” the bench of Justice Badar Durrez Ahmed and Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva remarked while hearing a plea that 15,000 CCTV cameras installed for the Obama visit should not be removed after Republic Day.

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The plea was filed in a case taken up after the December 16, 2012 gangrape case. Amicus curiae Meera Bhatia, in an application, sought orders that CCTVs should not be removed “in a hurry” from sensitive areas such as “entry and exit points in Delhi and also other places which are mapped as high crime rate zones in Delhi”.

The court has now issued notice to the Centre, Delhi government and police, seeking their response on whether the cameras will be removed. It also remarked that it will take the government “years to remove it, if they don’t get vandalized before that”.