The Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu government to respond to a plea seeking standard operating procedures for the preservation of CCTV footage inside police stations to detect, prevent and prosecute possible human rights abuse.
Justices M Sathyanarayana and R Hemalatha were hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) moved by Advocate K Nizamuddin. In the plea, Nizamuddin raised concerns about the Sathankulam custodial death case where authorities were unable to recover CCTV footage that could have provided crucial evidence.
Pushing for a proper procedure for the preservation of CCTV footage, Nizamuddin said CCTV cameras and its footage is necessary to prevent custodial torture, harassment by police personnel. He said that installation of CCTV cameras in and around the police stations is pointless without proper schemes because CCTV cameras can be manipulated.
On the other hand, if laws are framed to protect CCTV footage, it will be easier to hold the police accountable for custodial torture or death. This in turn would keep the tax payers’ money from going down the drain.
Nizamuddin further said that the footage should be accessible to the general public either through RTI or by any special rules prescribed in legal proceedings.
The petitioner added that he had approached the court after appealing to the State authorities on July 9. In a different PIL, the state government had given an undertaking before the Madras High Court that CCTV cameras would be installed in police stations across Tamil Nadu. However, an RTI report showed that these installations were never made.
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