Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court has directed that CCTV cameras installed inside police stations must remain operational 24×7 throughout the year.
The court also laid down safeguards for situations when CCTV systems stop working. It said that details of every person brought to a police station for interrogation or arrest must be recorded in the General Diary (GD) during any period when the cameras are not working.
A bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Achal Sachdev issued the directions while hearing a case filed by Raghvendra Dubey and another person.
In its September 23 order, the court said CCTV systems inside police stations must remain operational 24/7 and for all 365 days of the year.
The court observed, “The facts of this case, prima facie, strongly disclose that the police personnel acted as recovery agents on behalf of the complainant.”
According to the petitioner, he was allegedly picked up from Asansol and taken to Sardhuwa police station in Chitrakoot over a dispute related to a sand-mining agreement.
The state, however, argued that the petitioner had been arrested after non-bailable warrants were issued following the registration of an FIR.
The High Court set aside the arrest, calling the arrest memo “grossly deficient”. It noted that the memo had been witnessed only by police personnel. The court also ordered that the petitioner be released and awarded him Rs 10,000 as compensation for 24 hours of illegal detention.
The court directed that if a CCTV system stops working, the Station House Officer (SHO) must make an entry in the GD mentioning the exact time of the failure. The entry must also identify the official to whom the failure was reported in writing.
The Superintendent of Police (SP) of the district must also be informed so that downtime is kept to a minimum and details of the repair work are recorded.
The court said, “Another worrying aspect of this case to which this court must advert to is the repeated number of cases in which the police are trying to manipulate CCTV cameras within the premises of the police station.”
The bench further directed, “During CCTV non-functionality, entry time, departure time, and interrogation details of every suspect must be recorded in the GD. A signed receipt must be obtained from the person or their next of kin upon release.”
CCTV footage in the case showed the petitioner entering the police station at 9:00 AM on July 13, 2026. He was seen leaving at 10:19 AM with the Investigating Officer in the informant’s vehicle and returning at 8:24 PM.
However, his arrest memo mentioned his arrest time as 3:30 PM, while the GD recorded his entry into the lock-up at 6:41 PM.
The court also noted that interior CCTV footage from three cameras was missing or had been deleted.
(With Inputs from PTI)