Aam Admi Party (AAP) in Punjab has pulled up a new stunt and this time, it is aimed at arming people with phones and cameras as people have been told to record the video or audio of officers seeking a bribe. The step is not new; rather, the same was employed way back in Delhi soon after AAP Government took over. However, there are several ethical as well as legal aspects that need to be addressed and looked into before people are really made to wield their mobile phones to record videos and audio.
The Chief Minister has made it clear that once the required evidence of bribery is received, the action will be quick. But the Punjab Government seems to have not taken into account the implications of such measures and that too if taken by the general public. The ‘record video’ campaign indicates that the Government has failed in weeding out the corruption as well as in putting in place the necessary mechanism to end the corruption from the system.
However, the Punjab Government seems to have put it all out on the shoulders of the public: identify the corruption and we will act. In case, corruption prevails in the state, the Government will also have nothing to worry about as it could put across the argument that we had given it out to the people to identify corruption.
Coming to the operational side of conducting sting operations—as per the Government, it is going to be the person who just paid the bribe to shoot the scene as well, obviously stealthily, however, the aspect that the sting operations are not permissible by the rule of law and even of the videos are shot, how is the Government going to ensure action when the same is not permissible as per the law. The recording of videos might turn out to be a massive breach of the right to privacy even as under the IT Act, the law does not allow any unauthorised recording, or for that matter, the tapping of anybody’s phone.
There is a need for going novel in this direction along the lines of what the Anti-Corruption Bureau is doing in J&K. Whenever a person is told to give a bribe before getting any work done, the person files a complaint with the ACB, stating them the facts. In turn, the ACB puts in place a plan to nab the culprit by trapping. J&K has seen several such cases where the culprits have been caught taking bribes, Punjab Government has no right to breach the laws, or ethics to nab those who are corrupt. There are other ways too, why not explore those?
