The Jharkhand High Court has directed the State government and the Director General of Police (DGP) to ensure that CCTV cameras, installed in police stations, retain data for a minimum of 18 months.
A single bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi passed the order while observing that no action had been taken to adhere to the Supreme Court’s directions concerning the proper maintenance of CCTV cameras in police stations. Consequently, the Court instructed the DGP to oversee the installation of CCTV cameras in every police station, leaving no area uncovered.
The Court specified that these CCTV cameras must be installed within three months at various locations within the police stations, including entry and exit points, the main gate, lock-ups, corridors, reception areas, verandas, Inspector’s rooms, sub-inspector’s rooms, areas outside lock-up rooms, station halls, and other relevant areas.
“The State of Jharkhand and the Director General of Police, Jharkhand shall ensure that equipment installed must be able to store the data for 18 months,” added the Court.
These directions were passed during the hearing of a petition seeking the quashing of a First Information Report (FIR) related to a dispute over the purchase of flats and a loan, with allegations related to the alleged dishonoring of a cheque. It is noteworthy that the accused individuals in the FIR claimed that the Dhanbad Police, in collusion with the informant, had coerced them into signing a Memorandum of Understanding.
In this context, the Court had previously directed the police to preserve the CCTV footage at the Bankmore Police Station for the relevant dates. However, the police subsequently reported that the footage was unavailable because the system only retains data for 10 days.
Although the Court declined to intervene in the FIR due to disputed questions of fact, it expressed surprise that both the State and the DGP had not ensured proper CCTV maintenance, especially in a place like Dhanbad, where the crime rate was relatively high. Consequently, the bench mandated the State and the DGP to ensure the installation of CCTV cameras with 18 months’ data storage capacity.
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