Third of district court’s cameras dysfunctional

Of those that work, 11 record low-quality footage

RAWALPINDI: As the district courts resumed working after an ease in the lockdown, imposed to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19), it has emerged that some security cameras installed at the facility are not functioning properly.

Requests from the courts to the district administration to solve the problem yielded no response.

Officials at the district courts and the judicial complex have disclosed that of the 232 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed at the two facilities, 144 are functioning properly while 88 are out of order. Of those operational, 11 cameras record such a low-quality of footage that cannot be used for any purpose. Moreover, they said that five of the 13 CCTV cameras installed around the anti-terrorism courts are also dysfunctional.

Moreover, all three, walkthrough security gates installed at the district kuchery are defective while of the two installed at the judicial complex, only one is functioning.

They said that the judicial complex is currently guarded by 39 police personnel including an inspector, three SIs, two ASIs, three head constables, and 28 constables. Moreover, a member each from the special branch and elite force are also part of the complex’s security team.

However, the court officials termed this number as too small, adding that security at the courts needs to be beefed up with at least another 100 personnel. Several pickets at the facilties are mostly empty while others are occupied by unarmed security personnel.

Court officials said they wrote to Rawalpindi DC Anwarul Haq about the defective equipment several times but got no response.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 11^th, 2020.