File counter on PIL to fix CCTVs in police stations: HC to GP

The Madras High Court today issued a notice to Government Pleader S T S Moorthy to file his counter affidavit within four weeks on a PIL seeking to install CCTVs in all police stations in Tamil Nadu.
The first bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M.Sathyanarayanan, before which the PIL filed by lawyer Veangai I Prakash Raj came up today, directed that it be tagged with another PIL on the same issue.
The petitioner sought a direction to the Home Department as well as the DGP to enable superior officers in charge of police stations to have a view of what was happening there.

Earlier a division bench, comprising Justices K K Sasidharan and M Sathyanarayanan, had adjourned the hearing on the PIL to today.
Raj in his petition referred to some news reports of alleged incidents, where persons called for questioning to police stations on complaints are beaten, deprived of their basic human rights and sometimes die of torture.
In all these incidents, police take a defensive line to protect themselves, he alleged.
Submitting that installation of CCTV's in police stations would prevent such untoward incidents and help senior police officers have control over subordinates, he said CCTV footage recordings have to be stored in district headquarters for scrutiny and could be used by police to prove in court the exact situation in the police station with regard to any alleged incident.