LI Network
Published on: 22 August 2023 at 22:11 IST
“Allahabad High Court Orders State to Ensure Full CCTV Coverage of Police Stations”
The Allahabad High Court, based in Lucknow, has issued a directive to the state authorities to ensure comprehensive coverage of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras across all police stations.
A panel of Justices Sangeeta Chandra and Narendra Kumar Johari presided over a case involving a petitioner who exhibited disorderly behavior towards the police and obstructed traffic by sitting in the middle of the road.
Rajat Bajpai, represented by Advocate Abhishek Kumar, alleged that his brother and father were both High Court Advocates.
He claimed that the police attempted to forcibly remove him from the road and place him in a police response vehicle (PRV), which resulted in injuries to his legs.
The police asserted that there were two individuals involved, Pankaj Kumar and Rajat Bajpai, both of whom were employed at a hospital and had gone out for a meal.
The court found fault with the Additional Commissioner of Police’s assessment, as medical reports indicated that the petitioner’s injuries were the result of physical assault with a hard and blunt object.
While two constables, Vishal Singh and Rahul, were unable to explain why they had taken the petitioner out for five minutes, the Additional Commissioner of Police did not offer any opinion on the possibility of the constables assaulting the petitioner.
The court deemed the police’s failure to maintain functional CCTV cameras at police stations, as indicated by multiple incidents, to be a grave concern.
The court dismissed the notion that the petitioner’s injuries were due to friction on the road and instead held that photographs of the petitioner’s injuries contradicted the police’s version of events.
The Commissioner of Police had recommended disciplinary action against Sub Inspector Ramesh Chandra Yadav and Incharge Inspector Sri Alok Rao of Police Station Chinhat. However, the fate of Constables Vishal Singh and Rahul, accused of custodial violence, remained unclear.