PIL says install CCTV cameras in police stations

CHENNAI: When banks, ATMs, internet cafes and even government department such as registrar's offices are under constant CCTV watch, why cannot such a step taken in the case of police stations be under surveillance as well, asked a PIL filed in the Madras high court.
A division bench of Justice K K Sasidharan and Justice M Sathyanarayanan, before which the PIL of Vengai I Prakash Raj came up for hearing on Monday, adjourned the matter to October 27 for a detailed hearing.
In his petition, Prakash Raj cited three instances - January 8 incident inside Neelankarai police station wherein a minor suffered bullet injuries under mysterious circumstances; August 10 incident wherein a female suspect alleged to have was been raped and tortured in custody by Udumalpet police; and the October 15 incident inside a police station Ramanathapuram district wherein a Muslim youth was shot dead by a sub-inspector in 'self-defence'.
Citing these three cases, the petitioner said if only CCTV coverage was available in these stations, it would have been easier to know the truth would have been out. CCTV could be a great source of information to analyse incidents alleged inside police stations, and the recorded footage could help uncover mystery shrouding such allegations of custodial death and torture cases, he said.
"Police have passed orders to install CCTV in banks, ATMs and internet centres, besides several other places, to record footage of people accessing the facilities, and the footage is used as a valid information during any probe into untoward incident," the PIL said. , adding that the TN government's registration department has successfully installed CCTV at every sub-registrar officer. They also supply the recorded CDs at a nominal price to be used as proof of persons who were present during registrations.
He said installation of CCTV in police stations would help improve transparency and efficiencyadding that senior police officers could be put incharge of monitoring CCTV coverage and take immediate action in case of trouble.It will also record the footage of activities of persons called for inquiry and made outside police stations all across Tamil Nadu, it said.