'Only Ensuring Law & Order': Delhi Police Opposes PIL Alleging Surveillance Of Protesters At Jantar Mantar

Appearing for the Delhi Police, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta told a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia that the measures in question were undertaken solely to maintain law and order and did not amount to surveillance or snooping.

"At Jantar Mantar, some or the other protest is going on. Every protest is always recorded. In this protest, as a matter of fact, hundreds of people are seen making videos and reels and making them viral. This is only for the purpose of law and order. There is no snooping. There is no surveillance," Mehta submitted.

Describing the petition as "luxury litigation", Mehta opposed the allegations levelled against the police.

The Court, during the hearing, referred to the Supreme Court's decision in Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan v. Union of India and asked whether any standard operating procedure or guidelines exist to regulate protests and hunger strikes.

The matter has now been listed for further hearing on Tuesday.

The PIL has been filed by former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) president Aishe Ghosh, who has alleged that peaceful protesters at Jantar Mantar have been subjected to continuous photography, videography and monitoring by the police.

According to the petition, since the commencement of the Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) sit-in protest and hunger strike at Jantar Mantar on June 20, protesters have been under round-the-clock watch through a permanent surveillance tower installed at the protest site.

The plea contends that the surveillance is indiscriminate, extending to every individual present at the site regardless of any suspicion of unlawful activity. It alleges that the monitoring encompasses not only acts of protest but also ordinary daily activities such as eating, resting and seeking medical assistance.

The petition further alleges that the surveillance apparatus has been used as an instrument of intimidation against student protesters.

"The surveillance apparatus has been used as an instrument of intimidation and deterrence against student protesters. On several occasions, police personnel have threatened student participants that the photographs and videos taken of them at the protest site would be forwarded to their parents, guardians, and the principals or authorities of their respective educational institutions," the plea states.

According to the petitioner, such threats have created an atmosphere of fear and deterred students from participating in the protest or openly expressing their views.

The plea argues that the threatened use of surveillance material to identify and expose student protesters transforms the exercise from passive monitoring into an instrument of coercion and suppression of democratic dissent, thereby chilling the exercise of rights guaranteed under Articles 19(1)(a) and 19(1)(b) of the Constitution.

The petition also raises concerns regarding women protesters, alleging that during heavy rainfall, women who remained at the protest site in drenched clothes due to inadequate shelter continued to be photographed and videographed by police personnel, amounting to a serious invasion of bodily privacy and dignity.

Additionally, it alleges that police personnel repeatedly conducted route marches through the protest site and stopped vehicles carrying protesters for questioning, thereby creating an atmosphere of intimidation and portraying peaceful protesters as engaging in unlawful activity.

Ghosh has sought a declaration that the alleged continuous and intrusive mass surveillance of peaceful protesters at a designated protest site is unconstitutional, disproportionate and cannot be justified on the ground of maintaining public order or national security.

The petition further seeks a declaration that the installation of a permanent surveillance tower and the blanket deployment of videographers at Jantar Mantar fail the constitutional test of the "least restrictive means".

Among the interim reliefs sought is a direction suspending all mass photography, videography and surveillance at Jantar Mantar until the authorities establish a proximate, real and imminent threat to public order.