Owaisi contended that the usage of drones for surveillance is in violation of the Right to Privacy judgement; for this reason, the MP in a letter sent to the DGCA had asked for a ban on drones. Taking cognisance of an exclusive report by MediaNama, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) President and Lok Sabha MP from Hyderabad Asaduddin Owaisi criticised the Uttar Pradesh government for its proposal to introduce drones for surveilling rooftops, terraces, and protests as part of the Lucknow Safe City Project. While addressing a press conference on August 23, Owaisi said, “In the tender which the Uttar Pradesh government has floated, it says that they will surveil protests as well. They say that they will detect “unscrupulous elements”. Who are you to decide who an “unscrupulous element” is? Protests are a part of democracy. The tender also says that they will surveil over citizens’ rooftops and terraces. Why will you do that? Tomorrow you (the government) will probably ask to look into my toilet!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW-CT5gMTy8 As part of the Lucknow Safe City project, the UP government is looking to deploy drones in the city with the intention of snooping over terraces and rooftops “and similar hard to reach places with conventional cameras”. These are the other reasons provided by the UP government for the usage of drones— To provide a high vantage point for quick response during surveillance operations “To act as active deterrent to unscrupulous elements during challenging law and order situations like rallies, rasta roko…
