CCTVs to keep eye on Kerala police stations

The police stations with lockups in Kerala are being brought under round-the-clock CCTV surveillance in the context of a huge increase in cases of custodial deaths and of complaints about brutal torture in custody in the State.

As many as 471 police stations with lockups will come under CCTV watch by Tuesday if an order issued by State police chief DGP Loknath Behera had issued the other day is implemented as per schedule. Behera had on Saturday instructed the station house officers at these police stations to install CCTV cameras for making their functioning transparent in two days.

The immediate reason behind the decision to bring police stations with lockups under constant surveillance is the protests that have erupted across the State against the death of Sreejith (26) of Devaswompadam, Varappuzha near Kochi, an accused in a case relating to the suicide of a neighbor, on April 9 while he was in the custody of the Varappuzha police.

The CCTV surveillance systems are being installed in the police stations under the supervision of the concerned district police chiefs. As per the DGP’s instruction, the CCTV system will be connected with the computer networks in the police stations and copies of the camera grabs will be transferred onto DVDs on a weekly basis for the purpose of archiving. There are a total of 527 police stations in the State – eight of them women’s police stations – and CCTV surveillance systems are already in place at 110 police stations. The State police chief has also issued a directive to introduce advanced camera systems in 279 police stations. The work on this project is expected to be completed within three months.

The DGP issued the order to put lockups under constant surveillance after the State Home Department came under fire following the custodial death of Sreejith on April 9 less than 24 hours after he was taken into custody by three officers from the Aluva police’s now-disbanded Rural Tiger Force (RTF), who were not in uniform at the time of the act.

Amidst reports that the detention of Sreejith was a case of mistaken identity as the person actually involved in the case pertaining to the suicide was another Sreejith, his mother and other relatives complained that the officials at the Varappuzha station did not even give him water when he was writhing in pain after being tortured. The three officials from the Rural Tiger Force had no legal authority to take Sreejith, reportedly a BJP sympathizer, into custody particularly as they were not from the local police. Also, they had taken the youth into custody while he was asleep at his house late in the night. Seven police officials, including the three RTF men, have been suspended over the incident.

The death of Sreejith in custody has become a huge headache for the CPI(M)-led LDF Government as 16 custodial deaths – though not all of them had taken place in police stations – have been reported in the State in the 23 months since the LDF came to power. It has also upset Marxist Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who is holding the Home portfolio.

However, the DGP’s administrative reforms in the policing system have not succeeded in satisfying the lawyers and rights workers crusading against the police’s tendency to practice third degree methods on detainees. They are of the opinion that CCTV surveillance at police stations will be effective only if the Government foes for an overhauling of the policing system.

“That a CCTV system is in place will not purify the policing system. The goons in the police will find way to torture their victims even then. CCTV cameras can simply go out of unction.