Damaged CCTV cams hamper prosecution in Delhi riots cases

The difficulty in identifying those involved in the Delhi riots cases owing to destruction of CCTV cameras resurfaced on Tuesday when the Delhi High Court heard the bail plea of the accused booked in relation to the riots. The court will continue to hear the matter on Wednesday.

Opposing the bail pleas of the accused, the prosecution produced photographs and a video to buttress its claim. However, the prosecution had to face a volley of questions as the court seemingly remained unconvinced. The arguments were raised during the bail plea of co-accused Arif.

The prosecution produced photographs claiming that the accused was seen marching towards the scene of crime wearing a coloured T-shirt at the time of riots.


The HC, however, quipped that the fact that the accused is seen near his house at the relevant time does not lead to an inference that he was/was not part of the riot. To substantiate its claims, the prosecution played a video, to which the court verbally observed that it was “impossible” to identify a person in the video.

The prosecution contended that identification cannot be done directly with the naked eye but had to be done using a software. The court orally observed that if there is difficulty in identifying a person, the pendulum will swing towards granting him bail.

The court orally observed that the said accused could not be “clearly identified” in the video produced by the prosecution.