Delhi HC seeks report on functioning of CCTV cameras in police stations

New Delhi, April 28

The Delhi High Court on Thursday sought a status report from the city government and police regarding the storage and functioning of CCTV surveillance in the national capital's police stations.

Dealing a petition seeking direction for compliance with the Supreme Court order in this regard, Justice Yashwant Varma asked the respondents to file the report and posted the matter for further hearing on August 25.

According to the earlier top court order, it was noted that CCTV cameras with digital video recorders and/or network video recorders must be installed with recording systems that can be preserved for a period of 18 months.

The petition, filed by Chandril Dabas through advocate Manan Agrawal, was seeking the implementation of the Supreme Court verdict delivered on December 2, 2020.

In the plea, the petitioner also pointed out a personal experience, in which he was allegedly harassed by the police officials in Rohini area in June last year during the lockdown in relation to the e-pass. The petition contended that following the incident, he approached the court seeking registration of FIR and relevant CCTV footage for backing the facts of the incident.

However, the Investigation Officer filed a reply before the court stating that the CCTV footage could not be preserved as the footage backup is only for 18 days and the camera covering the open area of the police station was not working since May 21, 2021, the petition read.