Functional CCTVs required in police stations: court
The Kerala High Court on Tuesday expressed its dissatisfaction with the report filed by the Inspector General of Police on progress of the investigation into a crime registered against a person in Thenmala in Kollam who was allegedly chained to a railing of the police station when he sought receipt for a complaint lodged with the police.
When the petition by K. Rajeev, alleging police harassment came up for hearing, Justice Devan Ramachandran orally observed that it was very unfortunate that a citizen who had come to make a complaint was chained to the railing and then slapped with the offence under section 117 (e) of the Kerala Police Act for obstructing a police officer from discharging his duties.
Police stations should not be allowed to function in this manner and that ‘this brutality will stop only when we have functional CCTV cameras there.’
The court pointed out that despite the court coming down heavily on the police, instances of police brutality were still being reported.
In a report, the IG of police said that the CCTV footage of the incident had to be retrieved and only then could the case against the petitioner be closed.
The court observed that such a statement was fraught with some problems because had such footage been available at the time when the Deputy Superintendent of police made an inquiry, the entire incident would have come out in open.
However, the officer was aware that the DySP had stated in his report that there were no such CCTV visuals even at the time of inquiry in May. Therefore, it could not understand how the IGP now seeks to retrieve the CCTV visuals for completing the investigation against the petitioner.
The court orally observed during the hearing that the police was trying to keep the case pending against the complainant so that it could later bargain with him to drop his allegations against the two officers, especially the ones who had chained and lodged the FIR against him.
The court also directed the police to file an affidavit answering the claims of the petitioner for compensation.
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