CCTV surveillance will be done in police stations with the help of IIT, Supreme Court is considering it

News Topical, Digital Desk : The Supreme Court on Monday said that it is considering taking the help of a premier technical institute like IIT to develop a mechanism for real-time monitoring of CCTV footage of police stations without any human intervention.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta was hearing a suo motu case regarding the lack of CCTV cameras in police stations across the country.

'The centre did not comply'

Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, assisting the apex court, argued that some states have complied with judicial orders to install CCTVs, while many others have not. "The Centre has not complied with it - neither the NIA, nor the ED, nor the CBI," he said.

What did Justice Mehta say?

On this, Justice Mehta stressed that this is not just an issue of compliance but of real time monitoring. Today there can be a compliance affidavit. Tomorrow the officers can turn off the cameras. We were thinking of a control room without human intervention. If a camera is turned off, then information should be received. We can also consider making such a system by involving IIT, so that CCTV footage can be monitored without human intervention. The bench directed that the matter be listed next week for pronouncing the order.

The Supreme Court itself took cognizance

The Supreme Court took suo motu cognizance of a media report which said that 11 people had died in police custody in Rajasthan in the first eight months of 2025.

The report said many remand rooms in police stations are inaccessible to CCTV cameras and police often withhold footage, citing technical glitches, lack of storage, ongoing investigations or legal restrictions. In some cases, police refused to share footage or delayed releasing it.

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