Supreme Court registers suo motu case on absence of CCTV cameras inside police stations

The court instituted the case following a news report that referred to 11 deaths in last eight to nine months inside police stations

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday registered a suo motu case with regard to absence of closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV) cameras inside police stations, having noted a number of custodial deaths recently.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta instituted the case after a news report by the Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar referred to 11 deaths in last eight to nine months inside police stations.

"We are directing registration of suo motu public interest litigation titled as lack of functional CCTVs in police stations," the bench said.

By a judgment, a three-judge bench of Justices RF Nariman, KM Joseph and Anirudhha Bose, (all since retired) had in December 2020 directed all the States and Union Territories to install CCTV cameras in all police stations.

The court had then said the directions are in furtherance of the fundamental rights of each citizen of India guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, and hence, authorities are to implement this order both in letter and in spirit as soon as possible.

It also directed that CCTV cameras should be installed in offices of investigative agencies, such as the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Directorate of Enforcement, and the National Investigation Agency, that conduct investigations and have the power of arrest.

The court also said CCTV cameras must be installed with such recording systems so that the stored data should be preserved for a period of 18 months.

It had then noted that nothing substantial had been done in this regard for over two-and-a-half years since the first order was passed on April 3, 2018.