NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police has told the Delhi High Court that presently, the CCTV systems installed in its stations here do not have an audio recording facility and the issue of their upgradation was pending before the central government.
Justice Anu Malhotra, who had earlier said that the CCTVs in police stations should have audio as well as video footage in terms of the directions of the Supreme Court, thus directed that the Centre be made a party to the ongoing proceedings and observed that ‘it is essential that the said directions be complied with’.”
The UOI through the Ministry of Home Affairs is directed to be arrayed as a party to the present petition,” said the court. The court’s order was passed on a plea that alleged that the petitioner, who was the Imam of a masjid, was threatened and subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment by certain persons in the presence of the SHO in a police station.
The court had, in May, asked the Delhi Police to explain why the audio system was not installed so far in the police station concerned in compliance with the directions of the Supreme Court. Lawyer M Sufian Siddiqui, on behalf of the petitioner, said that the expeditious compliance of the court orders was necessary to preserve and uphold the primacy of the Rule of Law and to restore the faith of the people.