VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh government and State police department have repeatedly asserted that they have strictly complied with Supreme Court directives to install closed-circuit security (CCTV) cameras in all police stations across the state. However, the latest India Justice Report 2025 presents a different picture. According to the report, only about 58.3% of police stations in the state are equipped with CCTV facilities, leaving the remaining stations without such surveillance infrastructure.
This finding contradicts the government’s claim of full compliance with court-mandated security measures. Responding to the IJR 2025 findings, DGP Harish Kumar Gupta disputed the report’s data, stating that all police stations in the state are indeed equipped with CCTV cameras in accordance with Supreme Court directives.
Meanwhile, neighboring Telangana state reported 88.9% CCTV cameras in their police stations, while Jharkhand state had the lowest percentage with 21.5%.
In 2023, the Supreme Court of India took strong exception and gave three months to all police stations to comply with its December 2020 order to install CCTV cameras.
Women in police force: AP ranks 2nd
Director General of Police (DGP) Harish Kumar Gupta stated that all law and order police stations, including crime stations, traffic, CID, ACB, and Mahila police stations, are equipped with CCTV cameras, following Supreme Court directions.
The state has a total of 1,021 police stations covering all wings. According to Supreme Court directives, station house officers must ensure that CCTV cameras cover the entrance and exit gates, lockup rooms, corridors, reception area, SHO and sub-inspector rooms, station hall, and surrounding premises.
Speaking to TNIE, DGP Harish Kumar Gupta said that all district unit officers and station house officers were instructed to install CCTV cameras, and necessary financial assistance was sanctioned to complete the task. He added that in some places, all proceedings of stations are being monitored at the subdivision level or an operational command control center. “All the stations in the state of Andhra Pradesh are equipped with CCTV cameras. Maybe the data pertaining to CCTV cameras in the report was wrongly mentioned. Anyone can verify the police stations independently. This is in accordance with Supreme Court directives,” DGP Harish Kumar Gupta said.
The India Justice Report (IJR) also highlighted some other aspects of the police department. It revealed that only 82.3% of police stations have women help desk facilities. On a positive note, the Andhra Pradesh police department ranked second in terms of the share of women in the police force, with 21.5%, while Bihar topped the list with 23.7%.