New Delhi, March 4 A letter has been written to the Delhi High Court Chief Justice D.N. Patel highlighting severe security threat to life and property of lawyers and judges of a district court in the heart of the national capital due to the defunct CCTV cameras.
In the letter, Advocate Karan Singh, who is the vice president of the New Delhi Bar Association, sought immediate action against erring police officers and related agencies responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of 195 CCTV cameras installed in and around Patiala House Court Complex.
"I wish to bring to your kind notice the severe security threat to life and property of not just the lawyers and the judges functioning out of the Patiala House Court premise but also to the highly secured neighbourhood," the letter stated.
Advocate Singh expanded that there are 195 CCTV cameras in and around the court complex, out of which 90 are not working. The data came to light on March 2, when a laptop of a lawyer was stolen from his chamber in the court.
When a complaint about this incident was filed with the police, it was found that a lot of cameras were non-functional and no footage of the unidentified thief could be procured, he said.
Singh said that a daily diary regarding the status and upkeep of CCTV Cameras is sent to Deputy Commissioner of Police, along with various other senior police officials of Police and Central Public Works Department and that it was in their knowledge.
"Clearly the factum of the Cameras being faulty and non-functional was in the knowledge of the senior officials of the Delhi Police and CPWD and yet no corrective measures were taken by them to repair the same," the letter further read.
He brought forth before the Chief Justice that Patiala House Court is the criminal court and is visited by many criminals for their hearings on a regular basis. "Such severe security lapse could lead to some serious incident resulting in loss of life and property of the persons."
Singh requested that a high-level committee be constituted immediately to investigate the serious negligence on part of the concerned Police officials along with the CPWD officials and those guilty be proceeded against with legal action.
The letter asserted, "Such immediate and urgent action is prayed for in order to ensure the safety and security of the judges, lawyers and the litigants visiting the Patiala House court complex and further to prevent any unfortunate incident which may be a result of such serious security lapse."
( With inputs from IANS )
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