VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday directed the SPs of Krishna and Guntur districts to extend full cooperation to the Advocate Commissioner in inspecting CCTV footage stored in Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) at police stations.
A division bench of Justices R Raghunandan Rao and TCD Sekhar instructed the SPs to depute authorised officers to assist during inspections, stressing compliance with the Supreme Court’s directive to preserve footage for 18 months.
The bench permitted the Advocate Commissioner to visit any police station in both districts for examination and questioned the practice of storing footage only in station DVRs, raising concerns over retrieval in case of data loss.
Police were directed to specify the storage capacity needed to retain footage, which regulations mandate should be preserved at two additional locations besides the police station.
The case stems from a 2019 PIL by advocate Tandava Yogesh seeking CCTV installation in police stations and jails. Due to non-implementation, a contempt petition was filed in 2022.
Following a habeas corpus plea in 2024, the High Court appointed an Advocate Commissioner, who reported lack of access to DVR footage at six police stations.
The case hearing was adjourned to September 23.
