The Information Panel rejects claims that CCTV footage of the police station was automatically deleted

The Tamil Nadu Information Commission has rejected the Tiruvallur Police’s claim that the CCTV footage installed at the police station was automatically deleted.

The commission came down hard on the Tiruvallur city police for not providing the CCTV footage requested by Kothandan of Thirumullaivoyal in Chennai and said the public information officer failed in his duty by not securing the data requested by the petitioner.

Mr. Kohandan, who visited the police station on October 14, 2024, alleged that his mobile phone was taken and that key data, evidence and some documents stored in it were deleted by the police without his consent. The next day, he filed a petition under the Right to Information Act, 2005, seeking footage from the CCTV system installed at the police station.

When the police did not provide the data within the stipulated time and no response was received from the 1st appeal authority, the petitioner filed an appeal with the TNIC.

When the matter came up for hearing, State Information Commissioner R. Priyakumar said the PIO should have secured the data sought by the petitioner as he wanted it on the very second day of his visit. The stand that footage was automatically deleted due to storage capacity was not acceptable, he said.

He directed the Supervising Officer to conduct an inquiry with the PIO and explain why he should not be sanctioned and disciplinary action taken against him for the breach of duty.

Mr Priyakumar relied on directives issued by the Director General of Police in 2020 telling all commissioners and superintendents of police to ensure that the CCTV system has 20 days of footage. If any video recording is required, the same should be done with the knowledge of CoPs/SP for the specified duration of operation.

The directions were issued by the DGP based on reliable information that some persons had deleted or modified the video footage recorded in the CCTV cameras installed at the police stations.

Published – June 4, 2026 0:41 AM IST