Aishwarya Rathore –
Published on August 06, 2021, 03:48 IST
Delhi court criticized the police for arresting an accused based on his appearance in CCTV footage that was not authenticated.
Sunil Chaudhary, a Special Judge, made the remarks while granting Sameer’s Bail application.
On March 20, Police arrested him in connection with a fight between two groups of people in Northeast Delhi’s New Usmanpur Area, in which the accused were reported to be armed with sticks, swords, and iron rods.
This comes a day after a Delhi court slammed cops for failing to obtain a District Magistrate’s approval before filing a Police report in a criminal case.
The prosecution had alleged the involvement of the accused on the basis of CCTV footage.
Advocate Sulaiman Khan, who appeared on behalf of Sameer, told the Court that that “CCTV footage, which is available with the Police, would clearly show that the story is actually the other way around” and it was the complainant and his associates who were the assailants.”
The CCTV footage also shows that the accused persons were at their own home and not at the location of the purported incident at 1 a.m.
The Police informed the Court that they tried to get the CCTV footage from a local shopkeeper, but the footage was already on the DVR. They further stated that they obtained a certificate from the accused under Section 65 B of the Indian Evidence Act in order to prove the CCTV footage.
The Court said. “The act of the Investigation Officer (IO) is not appreciable as on one hand, he has implicated the present applicant on the basis of his appearance in the CCTV footage and on the other hand, he has not taken requisite certificate to prove the contents of the CCTV recording from the owner of the equipment and he wants to prove the CCTV footage by one of the accused of the case. IO has also not taken the expert report about the authenticity of the CCTV footage.”
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