Barring a few, none of the police stations in the Valley have installed CCTV cameras as directed by the State Human Rights Commission five months ago.
CCTVs inside police stations were meant to bring about transparency in the functioning of the police. While issuing the directions, the SHRC had noted: “It is commonly known that tortures as well as custodial deaths are happening in Jammu and Kashmir intermittently.” “Many a time the police personnel covert a criminal case into a civil dispute. Although the commission has no such record of how many custodial deaths have occurred in the last few years (but) such deaths have occurred and instances of torture also have come to the fore.”
While calling such transparency as the “demand of the democracy these days”, the SHRC had said the CCTVs would also enhance security of the police.
“It will be very helpful for the police to establish and reply to false allegations leveled against honest and dedicated police personnel. The installation of the CCTV cameras will help in decreasing human rights violations,” the SHRC had said.