MHC directs State and SR to monitor CCTVs regularly
The government pleader P Muthukumar appeared for the State submitted that the government has installed CCTV in police stations across the State
Madras High Court
CHENNAI: The Chief Justice of the Madras High Court (MHC) has directed the State and Southern Railway (SR) to monitor and oversee the CCTV or Video Surveillance System and disposed of the suo-motu initiated by the MHC.
The first division bench of the MHC comprising Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and D Bharatha Chakravarthy heard the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) initiated by the High Court in 2016 after a techie Swathi was hacked to death at Nungambakkam railway station.
The government pleader P Muthukumar appeared for the State submitted that the government has installed CCTV in police stations across the State and tabled a status report regarding the fund details for the installation of CCTVs in highly crowded places.
The SR also submitted that out of 422 railway stations 35 stations were already installed with CCTVs remaining stations will be equipped with CCTVs. Accepting the submission the bench disposed of the suo - motu PIL.
Further, the bench also observed that the duty of government does not end with the installation of CCTV or Video Surveillance systems but also extends to the continuous monitoring of the same on a regular basis.
In the wake of the gruesome murder of an IT professional Swathi in broad daylight at Nungambakkam railway station, on June 24, 2016, Justice N Kirubakaran wrote a letter to the then Chief Justice of MHC Sanjay Kishan Kaul. Justice Kirubakaran raised some serious questions regarding people's safety in public places and requested to take it as a suo-motu petition.
The gruesome murder exposed the lack of police patrolling and lack of surveillance by CCTV cameras at important places like railway stations, noted in the letter.
