Anti-corruption groups can bank on video activism, says pioneer

Ravi Krishna Reddy, whose groups campaign by live streaming from government offices, says citizens harassed by officials should explore the power of their phone cameras

The withdrawal of the ban on photography and videography inside government offices is a strong vindication of video activism, says anti-corruption campaigner Ravi Krishna Reddy.

Lancha Mukta Karnataka Nirmana Vedike, a forum to build a bribe-free Karnataka, of which Reddy is the founder and former president, pioneered video activism in 2016.

He later founded the political party Karnataka Rashtra Samithi, which also adopted the method in 2019.

Teams from these outfits conduct ‘social audits’ and record lapses in the functioning of public offices.

They live stream and upload the footage on social media, often catching officials behaving insolently towards citizens. They use a checklist with 22 questions to see if an office is citizen-friendly.

“We are entering the 75th year of Independence and we have an elected government issue a ban as draconian as this. No IPC or CrPC section deems the act of clicking photos or videos in government offices illegal,” Reddy told Metrolife.

Ravi Krishna Reddy

How it began

Reddy mooted video activism after he realised citizens could wield their smartphone cameras just as news media use professional cameras to speak truth to power. Reddy was formerly a software professional, and ran a Kannada weekly, Vikranta Karnataka, for some years.

His party has conducted social audits in more than 150 taluks, spanning 250 offices of sub-registrars, tahsildars, municipal corporations, gram panchayats, and even police stations. “On an average, all of our videos get 10 million views across Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp every month,” says Reddy.

He cited a recent success story: “In BTM Layout, D-group employees and SDAs (second division assistants) were charging Rs 500 to issue death certificates when the fee was just Rs 5. Even when they were paid the unfair amount, they did not hand over the certificate to the family on schedule. Because of our intervention, they confessed to taking bribe on camera and returned the amount. They were later suspended.”

Their past campaigns, he says, have resulted in government offices displaying the name and designation of employees on the desk, ensuring employees wear ID badges on duty, and providing seating, drinking water and toilets for visitors.

“We have live streamed from police stations when they refused to register a case or they manhandled the complainants,” he adds.

Such ‘video reporting’ comes with its own hazards. He illustrates: “Six or seven cases have been booked against me by government officials who felt we were obstructing their work.” Once, he claims, government officials from the Pandavapura taluk office attacked volunteers. “We filed a case against them. We see it as an occupational hazard, and also as a freedom struggle against corruption,” he says.

Never have volunteers used unparliamentary words in government offices nor have they physically threatened anyone, he says.

What happened

On July 15, Karnataka government prohibited citizens from taking photographs or capturing videos in public offices without the permission of employees. The order was a response to a petition from the Karnataka State Government Employees Association, which alleged that government employees were being harassed by those who shot videos in their offices. Following citizen outrage on social media, the order was rolled back overnight.

What the law says…

Bengaluru-based advocate Sharan B Tadahal says there is no law that prohibits the use of cameras inside government offices. However, what amounts to obstruction of duty is a subjective matter and would differ from case to case. Electronic evidence is admissible in a court of law as long as it complies with Section 65 B of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. This may require you to prove the source of the photo or video, cite the IP address, and file an affidavit, he told Metrolife.