Mere installation of CCTVs in police stations not enough, they must function properly: Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday said mere installation of CCTVs at police stations across the country is not enough as those should also work properly.

Taking up a suo-motu case in connection with CCTV cameras in police stations, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta highlighted key concerns like connectivity, maintenance, data storage, oversight, etc.

The Rajasthan government informed that an additional budget of Rs 75 crores was sanctioned on Wednesday and each police station in the state will have 16 CCTVs, instead of 12, by March 31.

Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, acting as amicus curiae, emphasized that to have a centralized dashboard was important.

He pointed out that the Union and States of Gujarat and Chhattisgarh have not filed affidavits. "NIA has filed an affidavit, but nothing effective has been said, Jharkhand, Odisha and NIA have given just for the sake of filing...it is not an empty formality," he said.

He appreciated the works undertaken in states like Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Rajasthan and termed them as "model states", which have given a positive response that can be emulated by other states.

The bench asked the amicus curiae to have a virtual conference with Home Secretaries and Director Generals of Police of all states/UTs.