Can anyone record the video of an On-duty Police Officer?

The Police have the legal obligation to safeguard the rights of the public and also protect the rights of every citizen.The police officials possess powers, but such powers are often used to evade the legal and moral rights by committing an illegal act.

In recent days as there is rapid growth in technologies and use of social media is expanding rapidly, whenever people see that their rights are violated or police misuse their power against them, they record the videos of that particular brutal police official and share it on different social media platforms. Here the question arises: can a person record a police officer on duty? Is it legal to take video of an on duty police officer? Lets understand this by this article

Can a person record video of an on duty police officer?

Here we are going to tell you that whether a person can record a police officer On duty or not, there are many videos on social media where people record the video of an on duty officer. Is it legal to record such videos and share them to the public?

As  per Kerala Police Act 2011 sec 33(2) the police officer 

The Police officer should not prevent any member of the public from making any electronic record or any such video of any illegal  police action or activity carried out in public or any such private place.

Article 21 of the Indian Constitution gives the right to every citizen that is Right to Privacy, where the privacy of one should not be violated, but if any Police Officer is not performing its duty or violating the law, then recording of video of that particular police officer does not violate Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.

One of the major verdicts given by the Kolkata High Court, that no police officer has the authority to snatch or take the phone away, if person record them on duty, but only when if that particular police officer is doing some illegal act such as asking for bribe, illegally misusing the power etc. if the police officer is doing his duty properly, then person should not record or else that particular police officer can take action against the person who is recording that on duty police officer.

Here  we got the conclusion that if the police officer is not performing the duty properly,  taking bribe, misuses its power, harasses any public or violate the legal rights of the citizen then only the particular person can record the corrupt police official and if the police officer is performing his duty properly and then any individual who records the video of the police officer are liable for the action taken by the police officer whose video is being recorded.

Action that a police officer can take against the person who is recording him:

If any person who records the police officer who is performing his duty and the act done by the official is the part of his duty , then according to section 186 of the Indian Penal code: the person cannot disturb any police or public servant on duty or perform any such action which may disturb them on duty, therefore the Police officials has the authority to file case against you or any person who is disturbing them on duty and not let them to perform the duty properly. 

How can Lead  India help? 

Lead India will help you in drafting a complaint against the police officer who misuses his power and violates the legal rights of the citizen or harasses any person and will assist you in lodging the complaint to the Police Complaint Authority.