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Looking into the recent incident wherein Delhi Environment Minister Imran Hussain alleged that he was assaulted by a mob inside Delhi Secretariat, a court here has directed the police to preserve the CCTV footage of the day and provide for necessary security to the minister after assessing his threat perception.
On Thursday, Abhilash Malhotra, Metropolitan Magistrate directed the DCP concerned to assess the threat perception to Hussain after his counsel told the court that he fears a repeat attack from a stirred staff to fulfil vendetta. He filed a complaint alleging that on February 20 at 12:30 PM, a day after the alleged assault on Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash. The minister was obstructed from taking the elevator to his office situated at the 8th floor and was mobbed by officials of the Delhi government. For the preservation of CCTV record of February 20 of the Delhi Secretariat, the minister has moved an application seeking directions to do so. The police informed the court that necessary directions have already been issued in this regard.
The presentation of CCTV footage has been done in the court by Hussain. The court ordered that it is prima facie clear from the CCTV footage that the applicant is restrained in the lift, a huge crowd is present and criminal force is also been seen used. The CCTV footage is a crucial piece of evidence in the above case. It is hence undisputed that CCTV footages are liable to be deleted automatically in the normal course and are stored for limited period. Therefore urgent steps are required to be taken soon for the preservation.
The minister has also submitted to the court that the police have not invoked Section 186 IPC, but “he was obstructed while going to discharge his public functions as a minister”. The court has also directed the “SHO to deliberate on adding the relevant provision of IPC during his investigation after the police said they first needed to seize the CCTV footage and examine relevant witnesses to arrive at a decision”.
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