CCTVs In Police Stations : Supreme Court Grants Final Deadline To States/UTs For Compliance Affidavits; Directs Secretary's Appearance On Default

The Supreme Court today granted 3 weeks to the States and UTs that have not filed their compliance affidavits in the matter relating to the lack of functional CCTV Cameras in police stations across the country.

The Court added that in case of non-compliance with the deadline, Chief Secretaries are to be present in the Court on the next hearing.

The bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta was hearing the Suo-motu case of the lack of functional CCTV Cameras in police stations across the country. 

Today, Sr Adv. Siddharth Dave, the amicus curaie in the matter, informed the bench that only 11 states have responded to the queries that the bench had raised in its order dated October 14. 

He added that the Union has not filed its compliance affidavit so far with respect to the central investigating agencies, such as the NIA. 

SG Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Union, requested that 3 weeks be granted for filing the compliance. 

Considering the same, the bench passed the following direction : 

SG states that 3 weeks be granted for compliance to be filed, we further grant 3 weeks' time to the remaining states to file their compliance affidavit.

"List these matters again on December 16, 2025. If by the said date the compliance affidavits are not filed by the remaining states/UTs who have not filed their affidavits so far, the Principal Secretary and Director of respective state agencies shall remain present before this Court along with their explanations for not complying with the previous orders and today's orders," the Court ordered.

To recap, on September 4, the Court called for registration of a suo motu case in the public interest with regard to the lack of functional CCTV cameras in police stations. A bench of Justices Nath and Mehta took the action based on a report published by Dainik Bhaskar, as per which around 11 people died in police custody in the last seven to eight months this year.

Prior to that, in December 2020, the Court had mandated in Paramvir Singh Saini v. Baljit Singh that all State and Union Territory Governments should ensure that CCTV cameras are installed in each and every police station functioning under them. However, compliance remained patchy, with many cameras either not installed or lying defunct.

On September 15, the Court expressed in the suo motu case that it was considering independent monitoring of the CCTV cameras in police stations without any human intervention, as even if CCTVs are installed in compliance with the Court's earlier directions, the same can be switched off by officials.

On September 26, it passed an order putting 12 queries to the State of Rajasthan, including whether regular audits are carried out to ensure the functioning of CCTVs. The Court further asked the government to state the period for which CCTV footage of police stations is preserved. It also questioned whether there is provision for surprise inspections and forensic validation of tamper proofing.

Case Title:

(1) IN RE LACK OF FUNCTIONAL CCTVS IN POLICE STATIONS Versus, SMW(C) No. 7/2025

(2) PARAMVIR SINGH SAINI Versus BALJIT SINGH, SLP (Crl) No.3543/2020 (and connected cases)

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