The Supreme Court has pulled up the Central government for delay in complying with the court’s order on installing CCTV cameras in all investigating agencies, including central probe agencies.
On December 2, 2020 the apex court bench comprising Justices RF Nariman, KM Joseph and Aniruddha Bose had directed that apart from police stations, CCTVs should also be installed in other investigating agencies in areas where interrogation and holding of the accused takes place such as:
(i) Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) (ii) National Investigation Agency (NIA) (iii) Enforcement Directorate (ED) (iv) Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) (v) Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) (vi) Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) (vii) Any other agency which carries out interrogations and has the power of arrest.
The matter was posted for March 2 for informing the court about compliance of the order but the government sought adjournment. Expressing displeasure with the development, Justice Nariman said to SG Tushar Mehta representing the Central government, “We are getting a distinct impression that you are dragging your feet, what kind of letter have you circulated?”
To this, SG Mehta responded that the adjournment was with regards to the ramifications of the order. “What ramifications? We are not concerned about the ramifications,” retorted Justice Nariman. “This concerns the rights of the citizens. This concerns the rights of citizenry under Article 21 of the Constitution. We are not accepting the excuses given in the letter,” he said.
Thereafter, SG Mehta requested that the bench ignore the adjournment letter and submitted that funds allocation for the CCTVs are to be made by the state government and sought 10 days time to file affidavit regarding the same.
The court has directed states to make budgetary allocations within one month for the purposes of complying with the court directions and to install the CCTVs within four months after that; poll bound states (West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam and the UT of Puducherry) have been given time until the end of the year. The court was displeased with the responses given by states regarding timelines for following the court’s order on CCTVs and other such directions. Further, UP has been given 9 months giving regard to its territorial extent and MP has been given 8 months for the same.
The court’s other directions include setting up of state and district level oversight committees that will be responsible for making sure that these CCTV cameras are procured, installed and function so they can be of use during trial. It further directed the positions at which CCTVs are to be installed and the specifications such as night vision, audio recording with storage of up to 18 months. The court also directed that large posters be put up clearly mentioning that a person has a right to complain about human rights violations to the National/State Human Rights Commission and other authorities.
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