1 in 3 police stations in India has no CCTV, 5.62 lakh posts vacant

The report which examined the country's police workforce revealed that out of the 17,233 police stations in the country, 5396 stations do not have a single CCTV camera. The only states and Union Territory in India where all police stations are equipped with at least one camera were Telangana, Odisha and Puducherry.

One in every three police stations in the country does not have even a single camera, the India Justice Report titled 'Police: Improvements, Shortfalls and National Trends -- An analysis of Data on Police Organisation 2021' notes.

The report, which examined the country's police workforce, revealed that out of the 17,233 police stations in the country, 5396 stations do not have a single CCTV camera. The only states and Union Territory in India where all police stations are equipped with at least one camera were Telangana, Odisha and Puducherry.

Rajasthan, which is the seventh-largest state by population, has just one police station with a CCTV camera installed on its premises out of the 894 stations in the state. States and Union Territories where the percentage of police stations with CCTV cameras is under one per cent also include Ladakh, Lakshadweep and Manipur.

Another Worry: Women in Force

The report further noted that the share of women personnel in the force is a meagre 10.5 per cent, even though the force has grown by 32 per cent between 2010 and 2020. The report also shockingly reveals that 41 per cent of police stations across India have no women help desks.

The report said, even though the aspiration is to take it to 33 per cent, the share is 10.5 per cent. "Nationally, it has taken 15 years from 2006 to 2020 for the nation to increase the share of women personnel in police from 3.3 per cent to 10.5 per cent," the report said.

The report said it would take 33 years to reach 33 per cent of women nationally, going by the current rate of increase of women's induction into the force.

The Delhi Police, under the Ministry of Home Affairs, with 12.4% of women, will take 31 years to reach 33 per cent, but Odisha will take 428 years, and Mizoram may take 585 years.  

Reservation Share

As for the share of Scheduled Castes in the force, the report noted that their reservation had marginally increased to 15.2 per cent in 2020 from 12.6 per cent in 2010. In the case of Scheduled Tribes, the reservation has gone up from 10.6 per cent to 11.7 per cent in the same time period. The other backward classes, too, had witnessed stronger representation to 28.8 per cent in 2020 from 20.8 per cent in 2010. 

However, there are still 5.62 lakh vacancies in police forces across India as of January 2021.