Calcutta High Court has asked the West Bengal government to report on the condition of CCTV cameras in police stations. The move follows a PIL raising concerns over non-functional surveillance systems.
The Calcutta High Court has recently asked the West Bengal government to clarify whether the CCTV cameras installed in police stations across the State are working properly or not.
This direction came from a Division Bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Chaitali Chatterjee (Das), who considered the issue very important. They ordered the State to submit a detailed report within eight weeks.
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The Court passed this direction while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by a person named Tathagata Datta. In the PIL, he pointed out that many CCTV cameras in police stations across West Bengal are either not working or are in very poor condition.
He requested the Court to ask the government to explain what actions they have taken to follow the directions of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court had earlier directed that CCTV cameras must be properly installed, monitored, and repaired in all police stations and jails to prevent human rights violations.
The Division Bench clearly stated,
“Accordingly, we direct the appropriate authority of the Police administration of State of West Bengal to file a report in the form of affidavit clearly stating all details with regard to the issues flagged by the writ petitioners in this writ petition. For the convenience the report may be prepared in the tabulated format so as to assist this court to consider as to what directions are required to be issued in this writ petition. Let such report be filed within 8 weeks from the date of receipt of server copy of this order,” the Court said.
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The Court added that,
the matter is very serious and needs to be properly addressed. “The issue is very important,” the judges said while passing the order.
The report must be prepared in a tabular format, which means it should be in a table form so that the Court can easily understand the condition of each police station’s CCTV system and decide what directions need to be given.
The next hearing of the case is scheduled for July 3.
The State of West Bengal was represented by Advocate General Kishore Datta, along with advocates Anirban Ray, Swapan Banerjee, Sunita Shaw, and Akash Dutta.
This case is significant as it deals with the safety of people in police custody and the proper functioning of surveillance systems in police stations, which are crucial to prevent misuse of power and ensure protection of human rights.
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