NO

To catch a thief

CCTVs in public places act as security devices. They might help trace shop lifters or thieves in disguise. Crimes such as harassment of women may also reduce because of CCTV cameras in public places. Locating and punishing people committing misdeeds is necessary to generate peace, cohesiveness and discipline in society.

Rajarshi Mukherjee,
JIS University, Calcutta

Discourages crime

CCTV has played a vital role in successful identification of wanted criminals. Besides, it also keeps a check on crimes. The mere sight of cameras staring back and the fear of getting caught is enough to keep mischief makers away from illegal activities.

Agnidhro Ganguly,
Techno India, Salt Lake, Calcutta

No privacy in public

We have no reasonable expectation of privacy in public places. Public places do not include in any way hotel rooms or changing rooms in shops. With the increasing crime rate these days, one can imagine how bad the situation would be if there were no security cameras in public places. Also, if people behave properly in public, there will be no concerns about privacy violation because of CCTVs.

Neelova Chakraborty,
Auxilium Convent School Dum Dum, Calcutta

YES

Image hacking

As we know, hackers can create images and videos of a person, or perhaps of celebrities, in order to extract money or for other illegal tasks by capturing and cropping images from CCTV footage. In this way, it affects our privacy in public places.

Sohum Chatterjee De
Nobili School, Dhanbad

Digital voyeurism

Installation of CCTVs to track activities of employees can make them feel ill at ease and kindle mistrust. Also, digital voyeurism and pornography have increased due to the use of spy cameras in toilets and changing rooms, which infringe the rights of people. There should be a check on use of CCTVs to avoid violation of privacy.

Abhinav Banerjee,
Sharda Global School, Ranchi