Gujarat HC directs home dept to submit detailed report on CCTV cameras in police stations

The Gujarat High Court has ordered the Additional Chief Secretary of Gujarat’s Home Department to submit a report of all the police stations, including the information about CCTV cameras, their recording and storage capacity.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice DN Ray of the high court has also directed that responsibility be assigned to the concerned officer in cases where CCTV cameras have not been installed in police stations across the state.

The order was passed during a hearing where two Ahmedabad-based lawyers alleged that they were beaten in the Lunawada Police Station, where CCTV cameras were missing.

The lawyers were accompanying a married couple in a case where the woman's family had filed a missing person report about her. However, on reaching the police station, the lawyers were allegedly beaten by the woman’s relatives and a group of people on the police station premises.

When the lawyers filed a complaint about the incident and demanded CCTV footage as evidence, it was revealed that the police station was not equipped with the cameras. 

As a result, both lawyers approached the high court. They stated that the Gujarat High Court itself, in PIL No. 200/2012, had ordered mandatory installation of CCTV cameras in all police stations and, later in 2020, even the Supreme Court had issued important directions regarding CCTV cameras in police stations. 

Again on September 24, 2014, the Gujarat High Court had issued an order mandating the installation of CCTV cameras in all police stations in the state.