Jaipur: Rajasthan govt Thursday told Supreme Court that 915 of the state’s 1,050 police stations have CCTV installed, and that camera coverage per station has risen from six to 16. The state also said it has allocated an additional ₹75.12 crore to strengthen CCTV infrastructure across police stations.The disclosure was made in an affidavit filed while the apex court heard a suo motu case on custodial deaths in Rajasthan police stations. The court had taken cognisance of 14 alleged custodial deaths across the state, including seven in Udaipur, and sought details of measures to install CCTV in police stations.“We informed the court that out of 1050 police stations in the state, CCTV was installed in 915 police stations. Apart from this, 10 police stations are under construction. Earlier, we had 6 CCTV per police station, which now increased to 16 cameras per station,” said Shiv Mangal Sharma, additional advocate general, who represented the state.Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, appearing as amicus curiae highlighted Rajasthan’s affidavit and compliance framework, and observed that Rajasthan emerged as a model state in implementing the SC’s directions related to installing CCTV cameras in police stations.After recording the state’s submissions, a bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta directed the DGPs and Home secretaries of all states and union territories to join a virtual conference with the amicus curiae on Feb 21, 2026. The court said the conference will assess the status of CCTV installations, examine institutional mechanisms for implementation, and ensure uniform national compliance with constitutional safeguards in custodial environments.The court also stressed the need for a centralised surveillance architecture, saying each state must establish a centralised server system connecting all police station CCTVs to enable central monitoring, data integrity, auditability and institutional accountability, in line with constitutional safeguards and the 2021 judgment.
