CCTV at police stations: Guj Govt apologises to HC for delay

Gujarat Government today apologised to the High Court for missing the deadline to install CCTV cameras at police stations in the state.
At an earlier hearing, the court had ordered completion of the task by today.
The Government today filed an affidavit before the division bench of Justices S R Brahmbhatt and B N Karia, stating it is yet to install CCTV cameras in at least seven police stations, in addition to four stations which have no building of their own.
The cameras which the Government was installing will preserve footage of the previous 30 days, against three months as demanded by the petitioner Prakash Kapadia, it said.

The matter will be further heard in June after the summer vacation.
Kapadia who runs the NGO Jagega Gujarat had filed a 'protest petition' last December saying the Home Department had failed to implement the court's November 2012 order.
In 2012, in response to a PIL filed by Kapadia, High Court had ordered installation of 15 CCTV cameras each in the big police stations and nine in the smaller ones. Kapadia had said CCTV surveillance in police stations was necessary to prevent custodial torture.
The Government had argued during earlier hearings that the delay was due to increase in the number of police stations from 561 to 610, from the time the PIL was filed.