India: a member of the opposition spied on from his prison cell
The entrance to Delhi Central Jail where Health Minister Satyendar Jain is being held.
AP - Saurabh Das
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Elections are in full swing in northern India, and must, among other things, elect a new majority in the city of Delhi.
The Hindu nationalist party BJP, in power in the country, faces the party of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which controls the Delhi region.
And in this fight, controversial weapons are used by the BJP: the broadcast of videos from surveillance cameras of the prison cell of one of the members of this opposition.
Advertising
Read more
With our correspondent in India
,
Sébastien Farcis
For more than a week, the intimate life of the Minister of Health of the Delhi region has been exposed: the authorities of the central prison, where he is temporarily detained, leaked four videos from the surveillance camera which is installed in its own cell - images which are then broadcast on a loop by the media.
We see Satyendar Jain eating good meals or having his feet massaged - and the BJP uses these images to accuse this man and his party of corruption.
►
To read also: India: resignation of a minister from the Delhi region amid religious conversion
A campaign weapon which could however violate an essential right of this detainee, as explained by Sarim Naved, lawyer at the Supreme Court: "
The Supreme Court declared two years ago that respect for private life is a fundamental right in India, and an accused in custody enjoys this right.
The prison authorities can therefore be sanctioned for these violations.
The problem is that it is not yet enshrined in the Penal Code, which makes the sanction less easy to apply
”.
The federal government, led by the BJP, has announced that it is preparing a legislative arsenal to better protect privacy.
In the meantime, his opponents plan to take legal action to enforce that of Satyendar Jain, and to put an end to this incessant dissemination of videos from his cell.
►
To read also:
India: Arvind Kejriwal, from social activism to politics
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
India