The Karnataka High Court had recently lambasted the State government after it submitted that CCTV cameras installed at a police station in Bengaluru were not functional due to power failure.
Taking serious exception to the State government’s submission, Justice Suraj Govindaraj said that by arguing that CCTV cameras were non-functional at the police station due to power cut and lack of back up power, the State government was mocking the Supreme Court’s order passed in 20 20 wherein directions were issued to install CCTV cameras in all police stations.
“Mockery of the Supreme Court order..What to do? This is a mockery of the order and you submit a report that you complied (with the Supreme Court order). There’s an affidavit filed in Supreme Court that every police station has CCTV cameras, fully functional 24 hours. The only conclusion we can arrive at is that you were also happy with it not working; that is why you did not do anything for 1.5 years, it served your purpose. There is no other conclusion that we can draw,” remarked the Court.
The very objective of installing CCTV cameras and installing them in police stations goes defeated if the system installed remain non-functional during a power cut situation, bench added.
“This will not only affect them but everybody else because if that is the status of CCTV across the State. Then as we said earlier, it is a mockery of the Supreme Court order,” observed the judge.
The Court made these observations while passing directions on August 13. The High Court had directed the State authorities to carry out a comprehensive audit of CCTV cameras and back up power infrastructure available in all police stations across the State.
“We will ask the Home Secretary to look into this and file a detailed report and what steps are to be taken for this,” the Court ordered.
Relatedly, the Court directed the Home Department and Police Computer Wing to design, develop and implement a State-level IT system that would monitor the functioning of CCTVs installed in all police stations across the State.
The Karnataka High Court issued these directions while hearing a petition filed seeking production of CCTV footage from Whitefield Police Station which allegedly captured an incident said to have taken place on September 4, 20 24.
The petitioner alleged that a police officer had subjected her to third degree methods at the Whitefield police station by hitting her private parts with a lathi.
Appearing in-person before the Court, the petitioner submitted that the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) had given contradicting statements before different authorities and was currently arguing before the Court that there was no uninterrupted power supply (UPS) available in the police station during the time of incident.
“You feel like laughing, I feel like crying. They are guilty for all they have done because they are giving different statements in different places. In front of the Court, the ACP is submitting that at that time there was no UPS. They are professionally telling lies. They can lie but not get away with such injustice. It has happened to me, it should not happen to anyone else,” the judge said.
Additional Government Advocate (AGA) Shamanth Naik informed the Court that the CCTV system installed at Whitefield Police Station was functional only when there is mains electricity supply.
The UPS installed to support CCTV cameras had been non-functional for around 1.5 years including on September 4, 20 24, when the alleged incident took place, he added.
It was further submitted that the Station had got inverters installed last year. Further, batteries were installed for only a cabin and an area of the police station was covered, he said.
The submission prompted a chuckle from the learned bench.
The Court said that since the CCTV system installed at the police station wasn’t maintained during power cuts as it suited the police officers, they never ensured that CCTV cameras installed were functional.
The AGA submitted that CCTV was working and it was only the back- up power that didn’t function when there was no power supply.
“What use is the CCTV (then)?” questioned the judge.
AGA Naik then said that the video pertaining to the said incident date was unavailable because the CCTV wasn’t switched on to record the incident during power failure as there was no mains electricity, he said adding that video from an inspector body camera was available.
The Court then directed the counsels to place that video footage before the bench.
The bench further noted that if the UPS remained defective for close to 11 months, it was impossible for the Station House Officer to be a “passive spectator twiddling his thumbs”.
Once it came to the notice of the authorities that UPS was non-functional, it was the duty of every officer from the person in-charge of the police station, responsible for maintenance and supervision of the equipment, to take immediate steps to have it repaired or replaced, the Court said.
“Failure to do so would defeat the very object for which CCTV cameras were directed to be installed, namely, to ensure continuous surveillance, transparency, accountability and preservation of evidence,” observed the Court.
During the hearing, the Court also perused a report submitted by the authorities specifying the CCTV cameras installed and UPS systems placed across various police stations in Karnataka.
The Court noted that instead of writing that UPS were not working, the column which indicated status of UPS was marked with ‘nil’ to create an impression that CCTVs were functioning round the clock.
It noted that majority of police stations were equipped with only 4 CCTV cameras. Further, the capacity of UPS installed varied from one station to another.
“What is the basis for varying capacity? Whether these UPS had the required capacity so that CCTV continues to function during power failure,” questioned the Court.
“What is the basis for varying capacity? Whether the CCTV which are installed was working?” the Court went on to say. The bench added that installation of CCTV cameras was not meant to be done as a routine exercise and authorities need to take responsibility to ensure CCTV cameras installed remain functional and capable of recording video footage..
“A CCTV system without an effective and reliable power backup is liable to become inoperative during power failures, thereby defeating the very purpose for which such cameras were mandated.,” reads the order passed by the Court.
The High Court directed the Additional Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary, Home Department, Karnataka and Director General and Inspector General of Police to conduct an enquiry personally into the matter and ensure that comprehensive audit under 27 categories is conducted across all police stations and establishments maintained by police department in Karnataka.
The bench further laid down that the aspects that have to be looked into include number of CCTV cameras installed and their location, whether all important areas such lock-ups, entries-exits, corridors, interrogation rooms are covered by CCTV, whether cameras installed and recording equipment is functional or not, storage capacity and preservation of footage, whether cloud/ central- server storage is available and its capacity, capacity of UPS installed and actual back up time provided by the UPS, frequency and duration of power failures experienced, complaints received relating to defective UPS systems and what action was taken on such complaints along with the name of officers responsible for maintenance and supervision of equipment.
“The authority must specifically look into the matter at Whitefield Police Station and ascertain if there was any interruption in electricity supply on September 4 20 24 between 11: 00 AM to 2:30 PM when the incident is alleged to have taken place.
Copies of record relating to power supply to Whitefield Police Station from Bangalore Electric Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) for the relevant time period would be placed before the Court,” ordered the bench.
The authorities have also been directed to look into whether UPS was functioning during the time of incident, whether CCTV cameras continued to record during power failure and if so, whether any footage was lost and whether footage was uploaded to a cloud or central server maintained by the Bangalore City Police.
Furthermore, the High Court also directed the Police Computer Wing to design and implement a State-level IT system for monitoring CCTV systems functioning across all police stations in Karnataka.
“This system shall have a centralised dashboard reflecting the status of each CCTV camera, recorder and UPS in real time and automatic alerts to designated officials when any equipment goes-offline”, the Court directed.
