In a significant legal development, Aishe Ghosh, former president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union and member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), has approached the Delhi High Court with a public interest litigation (PIL) concerning alleged excessive police surveillance at the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi. The case is titled Aishe Ghosh v. Union of India & Anr.
The petition raises concerns over the Delhi Police’s persistent surveillance measures, which include photographing and videographing protesters through a permanent surveillance tower at the protest site. According to the plea, these actions are conducted without any disclosed statutory authority or procedural safeguards, posing significant privacy concerns.
Ghosh, who has been actively involved in the protest since its commencement on June 20, argues that the surveillance is indiscriminate, extending to mundane activities such as eating and resting. The plea further claims that student protesters have been threatened with the dissemination of their photographs to parents and educational institutions, resulting in a chilling effect that discourages participation.
Particularly alarming, the petition notes, is the filming and photographing of women protesters who were left in wet clothing during heavy rainfall due to inadequate shelter facilities. This, the plea argues, is a serious violation of bodily privacy and dignity.
The petitioner highlights that repeated requests for information regarding the legal basis and safeguards for the surveillance have been met with silence. Drawing on the Supreme Court’s decision in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India, the plea asserts that the surveillance measures fail the constitutional tests of legality, necessity, and proportionality. It argues that these measures infringe on fundamental rights to privacy, dignity, free speech, and peaceful assembly, as enshrined under Articles 14, 19, and 21 of the Constitution.
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The PIL seeks several directives from the court, including the immediate suspension of the surveillance, disclosure of its legal basis and data-retention policies, and preservation of surveillance records pending the court’s decision. It also calls for the establishment of comprehensive guidelines for policing peaceful assemblies and the formation of an independent committee to assess the impact of such surveillance on the right to dissent.
Additionally, the petition demands the provision of essential amenities such as drinking water and sanitation at the protest site to ensure basic human rights for the protesters. The legal action is spearheaded by advocates Subhash Chandran KR and Anirudh K P, with the matter expected to be listed before the High Court on July 16.
