Supreme Court commends govt over CCTVs in district courts

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday commended the Centre for taking steps for installation of CCTV cameras inside the courtrooms, to begin with, in at least in 2 districts in each state/ Union Territory.

The SC bench, acting on a PIL, in its order in March had said that the districts should be selected by the respective HCs. The installation of cameras shall be completed within a period of 3 months.

The registrar general of the respective high courts were asked to submit a report on the working of the CCTV cameras within one month thereafter. The apex court is also considering the plea for audio and video recording of court proceeding in all courts, including the HCs and Supreme Court.

On Monday, the Bench told ASG Pinky Anand that the government should not prolong matters and sought a report from the Centre in two days’ time on the progress so far made.

During the last hearing of a PIL in August, the bench had asked the Centre as to why the judiciary in India should be considered any different from the judges of other countries who do not consider recording of proceedings as a violation of privacy of court proceedings. The bench observed that judges have no need for privacy inside the courtrooms they preside in.