Empowering transparency, police stations and chowkis in Delhi to have CCTV cameras

New Delhi, July 26: In a bid to ensure transparency in the working pattern of city police, the Delhi Police told Delhi High Court that all of their police stations and ‘chowkis’ will have CCTV cameras by mid-October.

The Delhi Police and the AAP government also told a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Chander Shekhar that they will submit a joint report after identifying helpless spots in the city where cameras are urgently required.

The court was also informed that 3,100 posts of police personnel have been sanctioned for recruitment by the Ministry of Home Affairs. In a status report filed through criminal standing counsel Rajesh Mahajan, the police told the bench that the cameras will be installed by mid-October 2018.

The court was hearing a PIL initiated by it in 2012 after the infamous December 16, 2012 gangrape of a young woman in a moving bus. The woman later succumbed to injuries inflicted on her by the rapists. It was also hearing another PIL by social activist Ajay Gautam alleging that there have been several deaths inside police stations in the city this year and the presence of functional CCTVs could act as a deterrent.

The activist also claimed that even the CCTV cameras installed at a few police stations were outdated, as they did not have the recording feature, and CCTVs were required at police stations “to ensure transparency” in their functioning.