BANGALORE — Reprimanding the state administration for failing to ensure uninterrupted surveillance inside law enforcement facilities, the Karnataka High Court has observed that allowing closed-circuit television (CCTV) infrastructure to remain non-operational during power outages constitutes a direct mockery of binding directives issued by the Supreme Court of India.
Presiding over the matter, Justice Suraj Govindaraj issued a series of directives requiring senior administrative officials to undertake a comprehensive audit across twenty-seven distinct operational categories across all police stations in Karnataka. The decision highlights ongoing judicial scrutiny regarding custodial safety, procedural accountability, and compliance with national human rights safeguards.
Origin of the Proceedings
The judicial intervention stems from a writ petition filed by a petitioner who appeared in person before the High Court. The petitioner alleged that she was subjected to severe physical abuse and custodial torture by police personnel inside Bengaluru’s Whitefield Police Station on September 4, 2024.
When the High Court called for the production of the relevant CCTV footage from the location to verify the assertions, state representatives informed the bench that the recordings were unavailable. The Additional Government Advocate submitted that a mains power disruption had occurred during the timeframe of the alleged incident, and that the police station’s Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) system had remained out of service for approximately eighteen months.
State counsel further clarified that while alternative power arrangements existed for select administrative sections of the premises, the primary surveillance equipment remained unpowered during grid outages.
Judicial Criticism and Findings
Evaluating these submissions, the High Court observed that allowing surveillance networks to lapse during power failures completely defeats the primary objective of installing monitoring systems in custodial environments.
The Court noted that the Supreme Court of India, in its pathbreaking 2020 judgment in Paramvir Singh Saini v. Baljit Singh, issued explicit mandates requiring full CCTV coverage with continuous audio-video recording and robust power backup units across every police station nationwide.
"Installation of CCTV cameras is not a mere formality. The authorities have an affirmative obligation to ensure that they remain functional and capable of continuous recording," the Court observed.
Justice Govindaraj highlighted that Station House Officers and supervising authorities cannot remain passive when critical infrastructure falls into disrepair. The Court expressed concern that official state reporting mechanisms had used evasive entries in status logs, effectively masking prolonged technical failures from supervisory oversight. The bench remarked that such systemic neglect gives rise to inferences that local personnel may benefit from gaps in operational recording.
Directives for State-Wide Compliance
To rectify these structural deficiencies and enforce compliance, the High Court issued multiple binding directives to the highest executive officers of the state, including the Additional Chief Secretary (Home Department) and the Director General and Inspector General of Police (DG&IGP):
- Comprehensive State-Wide Audit: The state leadership must execute a detailed inspection of every police station and law enforcement establishment in Karnataka. The inquiry must assess 27 specific operational parameters, including camera placement in sensitive areas (lock-ups, entrance gates, corridors, and interrogation rooms), storage retention capabilities, server uploads, frequency of local grid failures, and the operational status of back-up batteries.
- Establishment of Automated IT Infrastructure: The High Court directed the Police Computer Wing and the Home Department to build and implement a centralized state-level IT monitoring system. This digital framework must feature a live operational dashboard that displays real-time status updates for every camera and power unit, while generating automated alerts whenever equipment goes offline.
- Specific Inquiry into Whitefield Incident: The state must conduct a focused inquiry into the exact circumstances surrounding the September 4, 2024 incident. The directives require cross-verifying power distribution records from the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM), evaluating body-worn camera footage from attending officers, and determining specific administrative responsibility for the unmaintained UPS units.
Institutional Implications
The High Court's ruling underscores the mandatory nature of technological accountability inside custodial facilities across India. By directing the creation of a centralized, automated monitoring network rather than relying on manual status reporting, the judgment seeks to eliminate procedural loopholes, protect basic constitutional rights, and restore public confidence in law enforcement practices.
The matter remains pending before the Karnataka High Court for further compliance reviews and administrative progress updates.
Description: The Karnataka High Court reprimanded state authorities for failing to maintain operational CCTV cameras and back-up power in police stations, calling it a mockery of the Supreme Court's 2020 custodial safety mandate. Hearing a petition alleging severe police brutality at Bengaluru's Whitefield Police Station—where footage was missing due to a main power outage and an unrepaired power back-up—Justice Suraj Govindaraj observed that non-functional surveillance defeats its core accountability purpose. The High Court ordered senior state officials to execute a comprehensive audit across twenty-seven operational parameters in all police stations state-wide. Additionally, the Court directed the Home Department and Police Computer Wing to build a centralized, state-level IT monitoring dashboard that generates real-time alerts whenever surveillance or power back-up infrastructure goes offline.