Bombay High Court Directs DGP To Review CCTV Functionality, Footage Preservation In All Police Stations
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday (July 15) ordered the State's Director General of Police (DGP) to submit a report spelling out if all the police stations across Maharashtra have operational CCTV cameras and also for how much period is their data preserved by the concerned police stations. A divison bench of Acting Chief Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Gautam Ankhad has asked the DGP...
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday (July 15) ordered the State's Director General of Police (DGP) to submit a report spelling out if all the police stations across Maharashtra have operational CCTV cameras and also for how much period is their data preserved by the concerned police stations.
A divison bench of Acting Chief Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Gautam Ankhad has asked the DGP to submit his report on August 10.
"We call upon the Director General of Police to initiate a fact finding exercise to take an overall view of all the Police Stations in the State of Maharashtra, in the light of the Paramvir Singh's judgment and submit a report as regards the functionality of the CCTV cameras and the period of preservation of the data in the hard disks connected with all CCTVs in the Police Stations. The report should also indicate what steps have been taken in view of the directions of this Court in Somnath Laxman Giri vide order dated March 21, 2022 and why has the Ghatkopar Police Station reported to us that CCTV footage cannot be preserved after 6 months and is not available. Such report be tendered to the Court on August 10, 2026," the order reads.
Notably, the Paramvir Singh judgment delivered by the Supreme Court in December 2020, mandated the installation of CCTV cameras with such recording systems so that the data that is stored and preserved for a period of 18 months. A directive was further issued to the State and Central Governments for purchasing equipments, which would allow storage for maximum period and in any case not below 1 year.
As regards the order passed in Somnath Giri on March 21, 2022, the State's then Chief Secretary had given an undertaking that they would constantly be 'updating and topping up' their system and ensure that records are stored and preserved not for 12 months but for 18 months.
The bench passed the said order on a piea filed by one Somnath Kokane, who had sought preservation of the CCTV footage of Ghatkopar Police Station in suburban Mumbai from the period March 17, 2025 to March 20, 2025. However, the Senior Police Inspector of the said police station told him that the CCTV footages are preserved only for six months and thus, the footage that he has been asking, cannot be provided.
For context, Kokane had filed a police complaint against some person alleging that he had been using a bogus ration card. He alleged that the Ghatkopar Police officers were pressuring him and even threatening him to withdraw his complaint as one of the relatives of the alleged accused was a cop.
Kokane claimed that he was threatened in the name of then sitting Corporator and even other politicians. Yet he refused to give in to the threats and the pressure. Therefore, he was booked in some non-cognisable offences and chapter proceedings were iniitated against him. He therefore, alleged that these chapter proceedings were nothing but a counter blast to his complaint with regards to the bogus ration card holder. He claimed that the proceedings were initiated under 'someones' influence and to know the same, he urged for preserving the CCTV footages.
The matter would be next listed for further hearing on August 10.
Appearance:
Prashant Satyawan Kokane appeared as Party-in-Person.
Additional Public Prosecutor Mankhunwar Deshmukh represented the State.
Case Title: Prashant Satyawan Kokane vs State of Maharashtra (Writ Petition 1196 of 2026)