Camera phone video leads to arrest of Indian traffic warden beating taxi driver

An traffic warden in Mumbai was arrested after he assaulted a famous Indian documentary filmmaker who used his camera phone to record the warden beating a taxi driver, according to an article on rediff.com.

The article says Nikhil Niranjan Alva, a documentary filmmaker who won a Green Oscar and who also is the son of an Indian government official, saw a traffic warden beating a taxi driver who refused to stop when asked to.

Nikhil used his camera phone to record the incident and the traffic warden assaulted him.  "An assistant inspector, a head constable and a constable were present but they did not interfere," the article says.

Power -- and danger -- to the people

In addition to the warden being charged, the assistant inspector, head constable and constable were suspended for not taking any action against the warden, the article says.

This is one more example of how camera phones are helping to document abuses of power.  But it also highlights a problem with camera phones usage:  Camera phone users are in danger of being assaulted, shot, imprisoned.

I've written before about my fear of camera phone users who could get into trouble documenting illegal activities.  We are just beginning to see the effects of "citizen journalists" and "citizen photographers."