Supreme Court takes suo motu note of non-functional CCTVs in police stations
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday took suo motu cognisance of a media report highlighting the Rajasthan Police’s failure to provide CCTV footage in custodial death cases, citing non-functional cameras in police stations.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta directed the registration of a suo motu PIL titled Lack of functional CCTVs in police stations. The move followed a report by Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar, which said 11 custodial deaths had occurred in the past eight months, with police often refusing to share footage, claiming cameras were faulty, storage was full or citing confidentiality.
The court recalled its December 2020 ruling that mandated all states and Union Territories to ensure CCTV cameras were installed in every police station and that recordings be stored for at least one year. The order had also extended to central agencies with arrest powers, including the CBI, NIA, ED, NCB, DRI and SFIO.
That judgment came in response to a plea by Paramvir Singh Saini, who had sought audio-video recording of witness statements and mandatory CCTV coverage in police stations. Earlier, in the 2015 D.K. Basu vs State of West Bengal case, the apex court had also directed CCTV installation in police stations and prisons to prevent human rights violations.
However, when the court recently sought a status report from states and UTs, only 14 states and two UTs responded, and most provided incomplete details on the functioning of CCTV systems.
In its 2020 judgment, the Supreme Court had emphasized that every part of a police station must be under surveillance, including entry and exit points, lock-ups, corridors, lobbies, officers’ rooms, station halls, compounds and areas outside toilets. The systems were required to have night vision, record both video and audio, and ensure adequate power supply, including through solar or wind energy if necessary.
The court had also underlined that proper storage of CCTV footage in digital or network video recorders was essential to uphold accountability in law enforcement.
