“We cannot charge anyone just because the police have arrested her filming them do their work, we rejected the file since it is not a crime to take a film in public.”
That was the message of the DPP Noordin Haji in relation to the case of Sophia Njeri, the woman who has captured the hearts of many after she was arrested filming police officers harassing a female passenger on Tuesday.
Sophia was arrested by police and charged with obstruction of justice. She was supposed to take plea at the Makadara law courts on Friday morning.
But the DPP has now revealed that she did not commit any crime. There is no crime in recording police officers doing their job.
In a viral video, Njeri was seen filming the officers pulling a lady from the front seat of a matatu plying the Kasarani – Nairobi CBD route. On Tuesday, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority condemned the arrest adding that they had raised the matter with Kasarani police station.
In the clip, five officers are seen trying to eject the lady as Njeri is filming the ordeal. When the officers learnt she was recording, they are seen threatening her but she continued.