- Madras High Court asked Tamil Nadu DGP to report on CCTV footage preservation for 18 months
- Court ruled any shortfall in footage retention breaches Supreme Court orders
- Case arose from a complaint of bribery against a sub-inspector in Salem district
The Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu Director General of Police to submit a report explaining whether CCTV footage at police stations across the state is being preserved for the 18-month period mandated by the Supreme Court.
The court has made it clear that even a minute's shortfall in preserving the footage would amount to a breach of the Supreme Court's order.
"Every day the police maintain CCTV footage for a minute less than the period directed by the Supreme Court, they are in breach of the said order," Justice V Lakshminarayanan observed in his order dated September 2.
The court has posted the matter for further hearing on September 10, 2026.
The direction came during the hearing of a petition filed by A Saravanakumar, a Sub-Inspector and Accused No. 2 in a case registered by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), Salem.
The case relates to a complaint by Sakthivel of North Malliyakarai in Salem district, who alleged that officials including Saravanakumar had demanded Rs 15,000 from him for allegedly allowing the smuggling of ration rice.
The DVAC registered a case and initiated an investigation.
Saravanakumar approached the High Court, seeking preservation of call detail records, internet protocol detail records and tower location details relating to certain mobile numbers. He also sought preservation of CCTV footage connected with the case from the Salem DVAC office for the period from September 15 to October 15, 2025.
During the hearing, the Additional Public Prosecutor informed the court that the digital video recording systems in question retained CCTV data for only 15 days.
This prompted the petitioner's counsel to point to the Supreme Court's directions in Paramvir Singh Saini vs Baljit Singh and Others and a subsequent order of the Madras High Court. The counsel submitted that the Tamil Nadu government had assured the courts that CCTV footage would be preserved for 18 months in accordance with a direction issued by the DGP through an official memorandum.
The court noted that although the DGP had directed that CCTV footage be maintained for 18 months, the respondents were retaining it for only 15 days.
The Additional Public Prosecutor then told the court that he would obtain a report from the DGP and submit it.
Justice Lakshminarayanan directed that the report must specifically explain why the DVAC was maintaining CCTV footage for only 15 days instead of the 18 months. The report must also clarify the period for which CCTV footage is required to be maintained at police stations across Tamil Nadu.
