Many cities in India rank high among the regions that have extensive CCTV camera coverage. Chart 1 shows the number of CCTV cameras per 1,000 people in 100 non-Chinese cities on the horizontal axis. On the vertical axis, it shows the number of CCTV cameras per square mile as of July 2022. Since the majority of China’s cities have extensive CCTV camera coverage, they were been considered. While the number of CCTV cameras per square mile was found most extensively in Delhi and Chennai, the number of CCTV cameras per 1,000 people was highest in Indore and Hyderabad.
Chart 1
The chart shows the number of CCTV cameras per 1,000 people and the number of CCTV cameras per square mile
Chart appears incomplete? Click to remove AMP mode
A survey conducted by Lokniti-Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in August 2022 in 12 States shows extensive public support for the placement of CCTV cameras. More than three-fourths of the people supported installing CCTV cameras at the entrance of their homes. A similar share “fully agreed” that this would help monitor and reduce crimes. Only one out of four strongly felt that CCTV cameras carried a risk of illegal mass surveillance.
Nonetheless, a recent event in Telangana has once again brought attention to the problem of CCTV surveillance. In January, Khadeer Khan was apprehended in Hyderabad when authorities purportedly recognised him from security camera footage as a potential culprit in a chain-snatching event. A short while later, he was set free. He died while receiving medical attention for the purported injuries he acquired during his detention. Authorities asserted that Khan was taken into custody due to his resemblance to the individual captured on the surveillance video.
K. Saidulu, the deputy police superintendent, told Reuters, “When it was ruled out that Khadeer was not the one who had committed the crime, he was released. Everything was done as per procedure.” In March, a fact-finding team of civil society members alleged that there is no “specific FIR” against Khan and wanted an FIR to be filed against the four policemen involved in the case.
Click to subscribe to our Data newsletter
The Telangana police rely on an extensive CCTV network for surveillance along with Facial Recognition Technology (FRT). They stand out in terms of access to CCTV cameras, according to the Status of Policing in India Report 2023. As the police cannot access all the CCTV cameras in a State, only those which police teams have access to, according to the Bureau of Police Research and Development, were considered for the analysis. Chart 2 plots the number of CCTV cameras that each police station in a State had access to (2016-2020 average) on the horizontal axis. With each police station in Telangana having access to 257 CCTVs, the State surpassed the others by a wide margin. The chart also plots the murder rate in States in the same period. CCTV intensity did not correlate with a reduced murder rate in a State.
Chart 2
The number of CCTV cameras that each police station had access to and the murder rate (2016-2020)
Notably, Telangana has four FRT systems which are active, the highest across States, followed by Delhi, which has three (Chart 3).
Chart 3
Telangana has four Facial Recognition Technology systems which are active, the highest across States
Interestingly, while the police extensively use CCTV footage to identify miscreants, many police stations themselves lack CCTV cameras. Only 33% of the police stations in India had functioning CCTV cameras as of January 23, 2023, despite the mandate of the Supreme Court in Paramvir Singh Saini vs. Baljit Singh (2020). The share of some States which had replied to the RTI queries is presented in Chart 4. Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh are among those States which did not respond to the RTI queries. In Telangana, only 50.9% of stations had CCTV cameras.
Chart 4
Only 33% of the police stations in India had functioning CCTV cameras as of January 23, 2023
Source: Comparitech Data (Chart 1), Status of Policing in India Report 2023 (Chart 2, 3 & 4) by the Bureau of Police Research and Development and other sources
Also read | Data | Chennai has the highest density of CCTV cameras in the world: report
Watch our Data video:Data Point: COVID cases rise, but booster coverage remains low
