NEW DELHI: The central government on Monday informed the Delhi high court that a PIL alleging intrusive surveillance of peaceful protesters during the CJP-led agitation against the NEET paper leak at Jantar Mantar had become infructuous.A bench comprising Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia advised the petitioner to “let things cool down further”.The bench has advised the petitioner to file a fresh petition dealing with the issue in a broader context instead of limiting it to a specific protest, news agency PTI reported.The public interest litigation was filed by former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) president Aishe Ghosh.Appearing for Ghosh, senior counsel argued that several prayers in the PIL remained relevant as they related to surveillance of protesters in the absence of a legal framework.“You better file a petition where we can examine the provisions. This petition, as we understood, was confined to a particular protest. We are permitting you to file a petition which is general in nature. This insistence on your part (to press the present PIL)…Things have cooled down. Let them cool down further,” the bench observed.“Why are you pressing it now? In a subsequent petition, you can make a prayer for guidelines,” it added.The petitioner’s counsel submitted that some of the reliefs sought were still alive, including a direction to authorities to permanently destroy all personal data collected through surveillance, particularly after the Centre assured that no action would be taken against the protesters.The court said it would hear the matter again on Tuesday, PTI reported.Earlier, the petitioner’s counsel argued that the right to privacy does not cease to exist in public spaces and raised concerns over police personnel in plain clothes recording videos of protesters and the alleged use of facial recognition technology to identify participants.Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, contended that videography of the protest was carried out in the “legitimate state interest” and said objections to the practice were ironic.Mehta argued that influencers and others were also recording videos and conducting interviews at the protest site, adding that the CJP itself had urged protesters to “videograph everything”.Filed through adv Subhash Chandran KR, the PIL sought a declaration that “continuous and intrusive mass surveillance” of peaceful protesters is constitutionally impermissible, disproportionate and cannot be justified in the name of maintaining public order or national security.It also sought directions restraining authorities from carrying out mass photography, videography and surveillance at Jantar Mantar unless there was a “proximate, real and imminent threat to public order” warranting such measures.“The petitioner has in her possession photographs depicting the permanent surveillance tower and the continuous photography and videography undertaken by police personnel, which demonstrate the pervasive and intrusive nature of the surveillance being carried out by the respondents,” the plea said.“The surveillance is indiscriminate in nature, extending to every individual present at the protest site irrespective of any suspicion of unlawful conduct and encompassing not merely the public acts of protest but also the ordinary incidents of daily life, including eating, resting, seeking medical assistance and other personal activities,” it added.The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) withdrew its 36-day protest on July 25 after Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned from his post.(With agency inputs)
