Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday pulled up the state police for not maintaining CCTV cameras that were installed to enhance public safety. The court questioned the police about the use of installing the CCTV cameras, when it was not achieving the goals of public safety.
The court said it was a waste of public money to install the cameras when they were not properly maintained and pulled up the police for not making an effort to ensure the cameras were operational.
Justice Tadakamalla Vinod Kumar was dealing with a petition filed by Polavarapu Raju, a watchman from Manikonda, complaining police negligence in tracing her son who went missing nearly eight months ago. The Raidurgam police registered a case in 2024 and Raju approached the High Court as there was no progress.
During the arguments, Raju’s counsel submitted that the police had asked the petitioner to wait and his son would return home. They did not make any attempts to trace the boy.
Counsel for the home department submitted that the police had forwarded the photos and details of the boy to all police stations and efforts were being made to trace him. The court was informed that CCTV footage was not available in the area. It was upon this that the court made the observations on the CCTV cameras.
“Instead of saying lakhs of cameras are being installed for public safety, ensure that every camera is functional,” the judge said. The court observed that due to the negligence of the police in tracing missing persons, untoward incidents are taking place. The court adjourned the hearing to April 29.
