Every police station in the country must be equipped with night-vision Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras, capable of recording both the video and the audio, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday. This is a significant move to increase police accountability, and how it treats people while interrogating them, or while they’re in custody. The court also held that the footage captured by these cameras must be made available to a person who complains of force being used against them while they were in custody. A copy of the Supreme Court order was uploaded by Bar and Bench. Apart from police stations, CCTV cameras will have to be installed at the offices of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), National Investigation Agency (NIA), Enforcement Directorate (ED), Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), and any other central agency office which does interrogations, and has the power to arrest people, the apex court said. The order was delivered by a bench of Justices Rohinton Fali Nariman, KM Joseph and Aniruddha Bose, while hearing a case on installing CCTV cameras at police stations. According to the order, CCTV cameras should be installed across a given police station, including the main gate of the police station, all lock-ups, areas outside the lock-up room, all corridors, reception, all verandas/outhouses, inspector's room, and even outside toilets. The data captured by these cameras should be stored for a period of 18 months, the order said. To bring more accountability around how police…
