The Supreme Court has summoned the Union Home Secretary, expressing concern over the absence of CCTV cameras in several police stations and gaps in their monitoring across the country. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta noted that many states still lack dashboards and centralized monitoring systems. During the hearing in a police custody death case, amicus curiae senior advocate Siddharth Dave informed the court that Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan have relatively robust systems. In Kerala, police stations can be monitored in real time through mobile phones. The court questioned why Kerala’s live-monitoring model cannot be implemented nationwide and why other states have not adopted it.
According to the Home Ministry and the NCRB, CCTV cameras have been installed in 16,550 of the country’s 17,798 police stations, accounting for about 93 percent coverage. However, installation is still pending in around 1,200 police stations, particularly in states such as Jharkhand and Bihar. The major challenges include integrating cameras with a live dashboard and addressing security concerns related to equipment sourced from neighboring countries.
