Madras HC judge installs CCTV in his chamber; wants govts offices to follow

Business Standard Madras HC judge installs CCTV in his chamber; wants govts offices to follow

Madras HC judge was disposing of petitions from IPS officer S Murugan and a woman police superintendent who had made sexual harassment charges against the senior police official

Current Affairs: Quoting Mahathma Gandhi's dictum of practice is better than preaching, a Madras High Court judge ordered installation of CCTV camera in his chamber while recommending it for offices of all higher Tamil Nadu government officials to tackle sexual harassment at work places.

Justice S M Subramaniam directed the court registry to install the CCTV camera in his chamber within two weeks, while disposing of petitions from IPS officer S Murugan and a woman police superintendent who had made sexual harassment charges against the senior police official.

In his order, the judge referred to Gandhiji's quote "An Ounce of Practice is worth more than tons of preaching."

He gave the go ahead for a probe by an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) and the CB-CID which had registered an FIR on the woman officer's complaint.

Justice Subramaniam recommended to the state Chief Secretary installation of CCTV cameras inside the official chambers and office rooms of all the higher officials in order to avoid all such allegations or complaints against higher officials and to safeguard the interest of women employees from sexual harassment.

The judge tasked the state Chief Secretary to initiate action against the IPS officer under the service rules which it said was necessary under the facts and circumstances of the case.