New Delhi, Sep 17 The Supreme Court on Wednesday said the Centre and the states should provide exact information on the installation of CCTV cameras in police stations, as the matter involves the fundamental rights of the citizens under Article 21 of the Constitution.
A bench comprising Justices Rohinton Fali Nariman, Navin Sinha and Indira Banerjee said: "We wish to know the exact position as to CCTV cameras in police stations as well as the constitution of oversight committees in accordance with our order dated April 3, 2018 in SLP (Crl.) 2302 of 2017."
The observation from the bench came after going through the orders of July 16 and August 5 this year, and also the August 11 report filed by Siddharth Dave, amicus curiae, along with the Centre's affidavit.
"We also expect the Chief Secretary of the states and Union Territories to take this matter seriously and in right earnest since it involves the fundamental rights of the citizen under Article 21 of the Constitution of India," said the bench.
Additional Solicitor General Madhavi Divan, appearing for the Union of India, informed the court that she will attempt to get whatever figures she has and place them on affidavit before the next date of hearing.
The bench emphasised that it called upon all the states and UTs, making them a party in the case, in order to find out the exact position in connection with each police station.
The top court directed the Registry to issue a notice to the Chief Secretary of each state and UT to respond on the following points: "1. What exactly is the position with respect to CCTV cameras fitted in each and every police station in the State or Union Territory and 2. What is the position qua constitution of Oversight Committees in accordance with our order dated April 3, 2018."
The bench said the data should be furnished positively before the next date of hearing, which is November 24.
"All affidavits filed in the future in this proceeding as well as other documents are to be supplied by the Registry to the learned amicus curiae," noted the bench.
The order came on a plea filed by Paramvir Singh Saini, which raised issues with audio-video recording of statements and installation of CCTV cameras in police stations.
( With inputs from IANS )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor