CORRESPONDENT
AGARTALA: The Tripura High Court has ordered strict and continuous compliance with Supreme Court guidelines on CCTV surveillance in every police station across the State, making the Officer-in-Charge (OC) personally responsible for the functioning, maintenance, recording and preservation of CCTV footage. The significant direction was issued on by a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao and Justice Biswajit Palit while disposing of a writ petition filed by Ratna Roy in connection with the alleged assault of her son, Saikat Saha, inside East Agartala Police Station on the intervening night of April 4 and 5. Senior Advocate Purushottam Roy Barman, assisted by Advocates Samarjit Bhattacharjee and Kausik Nath, appeared for the petitioner.
The Bench took note of the crucial role played by CCTV footage in the case. The footage, which was ordered to be seized earlier, enabled the Court and investigating authorities to examine what had allegedly occurred inside the police station. A Special Investigation Team subsequently found the allegations prima facie substantiated, following which action was initiated against the accused and police personnel. The Court, however, expressed concern over another police-station assault matter where CCTV footage was reportedly unavailable because the system had remained non-functional around the time of the alleged incident. The Bench stressed that such a situation could not be allowed to recur.
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