New Delhi: The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, pulled up the Centre and several state governments over their continued non-compliance with its directions mandating functional CCTV cameras in all police stations across the country.
The bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta, while hearing the suo motu case titled ‘In Re: Lack of Functional CCTVs in Police Stations’, observed that the Centre appeared to be taking the apex court “very lightly”, IANS has reported.
The Court took cognisance of a media report, which revealed that 11 people had died in police custody in Rajasthan in the first eight months of 2025, seven of them in the Udaipur division alone.
During the hearing, senior advocate Sidharth Dave, assisting the top court as amicus curiae, submitted a detailed chart highlighting the status of compliance received from various states.
Dave added that most states had failed to address the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) required for installation, maintenance and data preservation of CCTV systems.
Madhya Pradesh has emerged as a “model state”, with every police station reportedly linked to a central surveillance control room, the Court noted.
It took strong exception to the Centre’s failure to file any affidavit or compliance report despite repeated directions.
“The Union is still lacking in compliance. The Union is taking the court very lightly. Why?” the bench wanted to know.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, assured the top court that an affidavit would be filed. The Court, however, responded that “not just an affidavit, but compliance” was expected.
“Now this country will not tolerate this blot,” the Court added after the amicus further highlighted that even agencies like the NIA and CBI lacked dedicated budgeting for CCTV infrastructure.
The Supreme Court, in its order, noted that only 11 states and Union Territories had filed compliance affidavits in the matter. Granting a final three-week period, the bench directed the remaining states and Central agencies to file their affidavits by December 16.
The apex court made it clear that failure to comply would result in the personal presence of the Chief Secretaries of the defaulting states and the heads of the investigating agencies concerned.
The Supreme Court has already mandated the installation of CCTV cameras in police stations to maintain transparency and to curb instances of custodial torture.
It had directed that no part of a police station be left uncovered and that footage be preserved for at least 18 months in digital or network video recorders.
In 2023, the Court had given the Centre and states three months to comply with its order on CCTV cameras. It had also made Station House Officers (SHOs) personally responsible for maintenance, data backup and repair of CCTV systems.
