Computerised registration of First Information Reports (FIRs) was launched in all police stations in Madurai City and Rural police limits on Friday as part of the State-wide initiative to improve transparency and accessibility and to do away with handwritten FIRs.
Henceforth, on receiving complaints of cognizable offences, police stations will be registering the FIRs online in the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS), an ongoing project across India, to increase efficiency of policing through principles of e-governance.
The FIRs registered in the CCTNS and electronically signed by the police officer concerned will be printed out in specially designed A4-sized papers with security features. The printed copies will be used for sending a copy to the court and for providing a copy to complainants.
The decision to implement this system followed an order in this regard by the Madras High Court, police sources said.
Terming the initiative another step towards better policing in the State, Commissioner of Police Shailesh Kumar Yadav said that it would make the FIRs tamper-proof.
“On rare occasions, there were complaints of tampering with or modifying the FIRs. Such issues can be avoided now,” he said.
Superintendent of Police Vijayendra S. Bidari said that the system would also provide an easy access to senior officials to see the FIRs through the CCTNS system.
“Earlier, the FIR ledgers were maintained only in the respective police stations, which had the risk of getting damaged. Now it is all computerised. For instance, a Deputy Superintendent of Police can view the FIRs in all the police stations in his or her sub-division. Similarly, the SPs can view all the FIRs in the district and so on,” he added. The police said that a bridging from the CCTNS would also be done with courts in the near future to send the FIRs online from police station to court instead of doing it manually.
