Agartala, September 17, 2026: The Tripura High Court has directed the state police administration to ensure strict compliance with the Supreme Court’s guidelines on the installation, functioning, maintenance and preservation of CCTV systems at all police stations across the state.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice M. S. Ramachandra Rao and Justice Biswajit Palit passed the directions on Thursday while disposing of a criminal writ petition concerning allegations of assault inside East Agartala Police Station.
The case, Ratna Roy v. State of Tripura & Others, arose from allegations that Saikat Saha was assaulted and subjected to ill-treatment inside East Agartala Police Station during the intervening night of April 4 and 5, 2026.
CCTV footage from the police station became an important part of the proceedings. The High Court had earlier ordered the CCTV recordings to be seized and subsequently constituted a Special Investigation Team to examine the allegations. The SIT later submitted its report, following which action was taken against the accused persons and departmental proceedings were initiated against police personnel.
While dealing with the matter, the Bench also highlighted another case in which CCTV footage was reportedly unavailable because the system at the concerned police station had remained non-functional for several days.
Against this background, the High Court directed that the Supreme Court’s directions in Paramvir Singh Saini v. Baljit Singh & Others be implemented “in letter and spirit” across Tripura.
Under the directions, CCTV cameras at police stations must cover important areas including entry and exit points, the main gate, lock-ups, corridors, reception areas, verandas, officers’ rooms and the station hall. The systems are also required to have night-vision capability and audio as well as video recording.
The High Court specifically made the Officer-in-Charge of each police station responsible for the functioning, maintenance and recording of the CCTV system. If a camera becomes non-functional, the Officer-in-Charge must inform the District Level Oversight Committee (DLOC) and provide details of arrests and interrogations carried out during the period when the system was not working. The DLOC is then required to approach the State Level Oversight Committee (SLOC) for repair or replacement of the equipment.
The CCTV recording system is required to have the capacity to preserve footage for 18 months. The Supreme Court’s 2020 directions also provide that where equipment capable of storing footage for 18 months is not commercially available, the maximum available storage capacity must be obtained, subject to a minimum of one year, with the objective of moving to 18-month storage.
The Tripura High Court’s directions therefore put emphasis not only on having CCTV cameras installed, but also on continuous functioning, proper maintenance, adequate storage, backups and accountability when surveillance systems fail.
The High Court subsequently disposed of the writ petition after recording the investigation and departmental actions taken in connection with the East Agartala Police Station matter.
