The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to entertain a petition demanding the mandatory use of the body-worn cameras by cops while they deal with any crowd and protests and hear its input in six months.
The court, however, failed to provide a direction obligating the use of body cameras. Instead, it requested the authorities to take a look at formulating a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the use of these by them. The presiding Officer of the Bench was the Acting Chief Justice Nitin Sambhre.
Advocate Chahat Raghav had filed the PIL that wanted a directive from the court that was asking the Delhi Police and the Rapid Action Force to deploy body-worn cameras in builds or protests. It also wanted regulations for the handling, preservation, security and production of the video from the cameras.
Handling it on behalf of the petitioner, Senior Advocate Akhil Sibal had said the use of body cam could help to ensure greater transparency and accountability in protests. There can be a “recording of what actually happened,” if accusations of excessive police force are followed by charges of protesters against police, he said.
The court observed that the same question is to be answered in all policing agencies and not just the Delhi Police. Advanced by Advocate General of State Chetan Sharma that the petition could be admitted as a representation as per the PIL rules of the Delhi High Court as the petitioner should first approach the concerned authorities before dealing with the Delhi High Court itself.
The Centre also referred to the previous directions issued by them regarding the framing of SOPs and videography of protest meetings. The court noted both statements and informed the respondents to provide a response in 6 months in respect of the framing of an SOP for deployment of BFCs. It has granted the petitioner the liberty to return before the court in case he was not satisfied with the order or in the event of no action by the court.
The petition comes against the backdrop of the protests at Jantar Mantar in July 2026 by Cockroach Janata Party along with the Climate Change activist, Sonam Wangchuk.