Bureau Prayagraj- The Supreme Court on Monday (April 6) questioned the Central Government over the lack of functional CCTV cameras in police stations and directed the Union Home Secretary to appear in the court. When amicus curiae and senior advocate Siddharth Dave said that Kerala has the best system, Justice Nath said, ‘If you say Kerala has the best system, then why can’t other states adopt it?’

He also said that this should be discussed by the authorities concerned. Amicus Curiae Dave told the court that most of the states have installed CCTV cameras and are in the process of setting up centralized dashboards. In September 2025, the Supreme Court initiated a suo motu PIL based on a news report which mentioned 11 custodial deaths in the last eight months and linked it to the lack of functioning CCTV cameras in police stations.

Earlier, on November 25, 2025, when the Center did not respond to the judicial direction to install CCTV cameras in the offices of agencies like CBI, ED and NIA to prevent custodial torture, the Supreme Court had asked whether the Central Government was taking the Supreme Court ‘too lightly’.

In fact, in 2020, Justice Rohinton F. A three-judge bench led by Justice Nariman (now retired) had directed the Center in the Paramveer Singh Saini vs Baljit Singh case to make mandatory installation of CCTV cameras and recording equipment in police stations to prevent custodial torture.

The court had directed the installation of CCTV and recording equipment in the offices of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), National Investigation Agency (NIA), Enforcement Directorate (ED), Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Serious Fraud Investigation Office (CFIO) and ‘any agency which conducts investigation and has the power to arrest’.

The Supreme Court had said in 2020 that CCTV and recording equipment would be used as security to protect the fundamental right to dignity and life. Justice Nariman had directed, ‘Since most of these agencies conduct interrogations in their own offices, it would be necessary to install CCTV in all the offices where such interrogations and detention of the accused take place, just like it is done in police stations.’