What is special privacy in classroom, asks HC

New Delhi : What is the special privacy available to students in a classroom to bar installation of CCTV cameras there when they would already be captured by cameras on the campus, corridors and outside the school, the Delhi High Court observed on Thursday.

The court's observation came while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) opposing the Delhi government's plan to install over 1.4 lakh closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras in its schools.

"What is the privacy you want in a classroom? What is the additional degree of privacy you are claiming in a classroom? The picture and videos of students have already been captured by CCTV on the road, inside the campus and in the corridor of the school," a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar said.

The court asked Jai Dehadrai, representing petitioner Daniel George, to consider the queries and to respond to them on the next date of hearing on November 27. When he sought an earlier date of hearing, saying the Delhi government would be going ahead with the installation of cameras, the court said it was not going to stay the process as it was "not in the slightest convinced" by the arguments made by the petitioner who has claimed unregulated access to the footage could lead to incidents of stalking and molestation.

The Delhi government, represented by its additional standing counsel Sanjoy Ghose, had earlier told the court that the feed from the cameras would be password protected and accessible to parents and not strangers.