Karnataka High Court Orders Statewide Technical Audit of Police Station CCTV Systems

The Karnataka High Court has ordered a comprehensive statewide technical and administrative audit of CCTV surveillance systems and power backup facilities across every police station in Karnataka. Justice Suraj Govindaraj issued these directions while hearing a petition concerning the non-availability of crucial CCTV footage at the Whitefield Police Station in Bengaluru during an alleged incident in September 2024. The state authorities had attributed the absence of footage to an uninterrupted power supply (UPS) unit that remained non-functional for nearly eleven months. The High Court emphasized that the installation of CCTV cameras in police stations is a vital constitutional accountability mechanism mandated by the Supreme Court of India. The bench held that mere physical installation of cameras does not constitute legal compliance unless the systems remain continuously operational and capable of recording. To address systemic lapses, the court instructed the Home Department and the Police Computer Wing to establish a real-time, digital monitoring dashboard. This system must automatically track camera functionality, monitor UPS battery health, log technical failures, and escalate unresolved glitches to senior police supervisory officers. Following the court's ruling, the Karnataka state government constituted a specialized committee to oversee the execution of the statewide audit. The initiative aims to fix individual responsibility for prolonged equipment failures and ensure that custodial environments across the state maintain uninterrupted surveillance in accordance with legal standards.