24×7 CCTV surveillance ensures rights protection at police stations

Every police station and post throughout Haryana is now equipped with CCTV surveillance to monitor potential misconduct by police officers and other violations of rights. Announced by Home Minister Anil Vij in December 2021, the initiative involved the installation of approximately 7,500 CCTV cameras with night vision and high-definition audio-video recording capabilities. These cameras have been set up at 765 police stations and posts across the state, incurring a total cost of Rs 106 crore.

A trial of the setup has already started and based on the results, the department will examine if there are any flaws and rectify them. “Not just police stations, offices of senior officers, including IGs and SPs, interrogation rooms and other critical facilities too will be under CCTV coverage. Also, records of all visitors will be saved through cameras. Another special feature is that none of the cameras can be turned off to stop recording. Cameras will turn on the alarm if there’s an attempt to switch them off,” said a senior police officer.

Each police station will be under the surveillance of 15 cameras, while six to seven cameras have been installed at police chowkis. The cameras will cover entry gates, exit gates, lock-ups, reception, interrogation rooms, SHO’s room, record room and boundary walls. These cameras can be monitored from offices of IG, SP and SHO apart from the dashboard in headquarters of Dial 112.

Vij in his direction had said around 7,000 cameras will be installed in police stations and posts, which will be monitored through a dashboard. “The cameras will have high-definition night vision and video recording and 360°C view capacity. Apart from this, these cameras will also have an additional storage capacity of 512 GB and the footage will be stored in a server. A complete change will be seen in policing with the implementation of the project,” minister had told top police officers during the announcement in a meeting.

In 2020, the Supreme Court had directed all states and union territories to ensure CCTV cameras are installed at each and every police station — at all entry and exit points, main gate, lock-ups, corridors, lobby and reception, areas outside lock-ups so that nothing is left uncovered.

When issuing the directive, the Supreme Court considered a 2017 case in which it mandated the installation of CCTV cameras in all police stations. The purpose was to monitor human rights violations, record crime scenes through videography, and establish a central oversight committee. Following the Supreme Court’s directive, a proposal to install CCTV cameras in all police stations and outposts in Haryana was drafted two years ago.

In February last year, a bench headed by Justice BR Gavai had again asked the governments to file compliance affidavits within a month, while issuing a warning in a case of non-compliance.