All police stations, chowkis to have CCTV cameras; HC told

New Delhi: The city police on Wednesday told the Delhi High Court that all of its stations and 'chowkis' will have CCTV cameras by mid-October as a step towards ensuring more transparency in the agency's functioning.

The Delhi Police and the AAP government also told a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Chander Shekhar that they would submit a joint report after identifying vulnerable 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.

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