The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Union government and states to comply within a month with its 2020 order making CCTVs mandatory in police stations and offices of investigation agencies that was passed with an eye on preventing custodial torture, and protecting the rights of individuals.
A bench headed by justice BR Gavai gave the Centre and states time to file compliance affidavits till March 29. “We clarify that in the event the directions are not complied by the Union of India and states, we shall be compelled to take such steps as necessary against the Union home secretary and chief secretaries and home secretaries of respective state governments,” it said.
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The court was assisted by senior advocate Siddhartha Dave as amicus curiae who submitted a note on the status of compliance with the order on February 20. He said that 25 states and Union territories were yet to file compliance reports on the court order of December 2, 2020, which initially set a timeline of six weeks for CCTVs to be installed in police stations across the country. The deadline was extended by the court in March and April in 2021.
Large states such as Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, MP, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Gujarat and the UT of Jammu & Kashmir are among those yet to submit details. The bench, also comprising justices Vikram Nath and Sanjay Karol, noted with concern that no CCTV has been installed yet by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which require a total of 504 and 570 CCTVs, respectively.
As per a note supplied by additional solicitor general (ASG) Madhavi Divan, CBI will install CCTVs at its Delhi headquarters and 55 branch offices outside the Capital by the end of next month, and the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) has approved the procurement of CCTVs for 13 establishments of NIA, an exercise to be completed by the end of this year. All offices of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and serious frauds investigation office (SFIO) have already completed the installation, according to the note, and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has sought time till May to install the remaining 147 of 519 CCTVs. The court directed the Centre to submit these details in an affidavit and asked ASG Divan to share the amicus’ note with the Union home secretary who will then forward it to home secretaries of all states and UTs.
The Centre further indicated that police stations in the Capital currently have 1,941 CCTVs which require upgradation and there is requirement for 2,175 more CCTVs. The top court, on an earlier occasion in 2021, had pulled up the states and the Union for making slow progress to implement its orders, saying: “These are matters of utmost moment concerning the citizenry of the country.” The court order of 2020 was passed while examining a case of custodial torture from Punjab.