When a customer accused Persona for setting CC camera in service area of the beauty parlor, it rang alarm bell. Although setting CC camera has become a common practice in superstore and big shops, there is hardly a piece of law regulating the process. As a result, threat to privacy remains a major concern. It is equally alarming that Persona firstly mistreated the complainant and later made every attempt to resist the process of investigation. Though it has been state in the Article 27 of the constitution, “All citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal protection of law”; influential quarters have helped Persona escaping justice so far.
An exclusive attempt made by banglanews24.com revealed an unprecedented delay in completing the investigation process. Even though it was ordered to complete the investigation by 3 days, there is little sign of submission of the investigation report even after 2 and half months.
Following the row over alleged breach of privacy, the High Court ordered the authorities concerned of all beauty parlors across the country to uninstall close-circuit (CC) cameras from their premises. An HC bench comprising Justice Farid Ahmed and Justice Sheikh Hasan Arif passed the orders on a writ petition filed over the incident of taking video footage of a lady customer of Persona Beauty Parlor.
Information Commission in UK is responsible for regulating capture of images for security purposes. There, all CCTV controllers are obliged to register with the Information Commissioner in order to make sure that they are operating in compliance with the provisions of the Date Protection Act. In absence of a law and regulation, it is hard to regulate business operating high-tech instruments for security purposes in Bangladesh.
Moreover, consumers are frequently ignored in the country. When the incident took place and the complainant along with her husband wanted to examine the footage, authority of the Persona refrained from cooperating complainant. Rather, they allegedly destroyed evidences related to the incident. Although Consumer Rights Protection Act (CRPA) was enacted in order to protect consumers, it offers little remedies for consumers.
To recapitulate, Constitution of the People`s Republic of Bangladesh says in Article 31 that no action detrimental to the life, liberty, body, reputation or property of any person shall be taken except in accordance with law. Therefore, right to privacy needs to be taken seriously and offences related to violation of privacy rights must be dealt promptly. Completing the investigation of Persona would help perpetrators bring to book.
Oli Md. Abdullah Chowdhury BA (Hons.) MA LLB is a human rights worker.
