CCTVs in police stations in 8-9 months more: HC told

The Delhi High Court was today told that installation of CCTV cameras in police stations would take eight to nine months more as a tender for the purpose has been floated and documents received from bidders are being examined.

The submission was made before a bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and A K Chawla by the Delhi Police which also told the court that a tentative financial sanction has been received for setting up the cameras.

It, however, said that all the rooms of a police station, including that of the\ investigating officer, cannot be put under the CCTV surveillance as limited number of cameras would be installed at each police station.
 

Delhi government's criminal standing counsel Rahul Mehra, appearing for the police, told the court that he has informed the agency that the current timeline of eight to nine months was unacceptable.

The bench, thereafter, asked him to file a new timeline for installing the CCTV cameras in the police stations.

Mehra also told the court that there was lack of cooperation from the Public Works Department (PWD) of the Delhi government regarding the installation of the cameras in the vulnerable areas as well as lighting of dark areas in the national capital.

He said that the department was not even responding to e-mails of its lawyers.

In view of the submission, the court asked the chief secretary to convene a meeting of all stake-holders to resolve the issues regarding lack of coordination between various departments and civic authorities.

Meanwhile, the central government told the court that meetings are being held on the financial implication of recruiting more police personnel for Delhi and six more weeks would be required to arrive at a decision.

The submission by the Centre was made during hearing of a public interest litigation initiated by the court in 2012 after the infamous December 16, 2012 gangrape of a young woman in a moving bus. The victim had later succumbed to injuries inflicted on her by the rapists.

It was also hearing another PIL by social activist Ajay Gautam alleging that there have been several deaths inside police stations in the city this year and the presence of functional CCTVs could act as a deterrent.

He has also claimed that even the CCTV cameras installed at a few police stations were obsolete as they did not have the recording feature and CCTVs were required in the police stations "to ensure transparency" in their functioning.