On September 15, 2025, the Supreme Court reserved its orders in a suo motu case initiated on September 4, 2025, addressing the alarming issue of custodial deaths and the lack of functional CCTV cameras in police stations across Rajasthan, following a disturbing report in the Dainik Bhaskar newspaper. The bench, comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, expressed serious concerns over compliance with its earlier directives from the 2020 judgment in Paramvir Singh Saini v. Baljit Singh, which mandated the installation of CCTV cameras in all police stations, including entry/exit points, lock-ups, corridors, lobbies, and reception areas, with footage retention for at least 18 months to prevent custodial violence. The court noted that despite these orders, implementation remains patchy, with many cameras either not installed, defunct, or manually switched off by officials, exacerbating risks of custodial deaths, torture, and abuse. Senior Advocate Siddharth Dave, assisting the court, informed that while some states have partially complied, others, including central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED), National Investigation Agency (NIA), and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), have failed to adhere fully, highlighting the need for robust monitoring beyond mere affidavits of compliance.

The suo motu cognizance was triggered by the Dainik Bhaskar report, which revealed 11 deaths in police custody in Rajasthan over the first eight months of 2025, with seven occurring in the Udaipur division alone. The court observed: “We have come across a disturbing News Article in today’s newspaper ‘Dainik Bhaskar, Rajasthan Edition’, i.e., 4th September, 2025. The News Article reveals that there have been 11 deaths in police custody in the State of Rajasthan in the past 8 months in the year of 2025, 7 of these unfortunate incidents happened in the Udaipur Division itself.” This prompted the registry to register the case as SMW(C) No. 7/2025 and place it before Chief Justice B.R. Gavai for appropriate directions. During the hearing, Justice Mehta emphasized the oversight challenge, stating: “Issue is of oversight. Today there may be compliance affidavit, tomorrow officers may switch off cameras… we were thinking of a control room in which there is no human intervention, any camera goes off, there is a flag, there has to be inspection of police station also by independent agency… we can think of involving IIT to provide mechanism so that CCTV footage is monitored without human intervention.” Dave supported this, noting that effective monitoring would not only curb custodial deaths but also address broader issues like torture and abuse, urging the court to enforce real-time, tamper-proof systems.

The bench’s proposal for an independent, AI-driven control room aims to flag any CCTV shutdowns automatically, ensuring continuous surveillance without human interference, potentially involving institutions like the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) for technological solutions. This comes amid reports of non-compliance persisting since the 2018 and 2020 directives, where the court had extended CCTV mandates to central agencies’ offices for interrogations, equipped with night vision and audio-video recording. The reserved order, expected on September 26, 2025, could lead to nationwide enforcement, including penalties for non-compliance and mechanisms for families of victims to access footage via Human Rights Courts.

This development underscores the judiciary’s proactive role in safeguarding human rights and ensuring accountability in law enforcement, potentially setting a precedent for tech-enabled oversight in sensitive areas like police custody.

Case Details: In Re: Lack of Functional CCTVs in Police Stations | SMW(C) No. 7/2025