Time for Delhi Police to sharpen tech skills, says court on outdated case records

“I think the time has come for Delhi Police to sharpen its skills so far as implementation of technology is concerned,” Additional Sessions Judge Sonu Agnihotri said.

A Delhi court pulled up the Delhi Police for not updating records on pending cases against under-trial prisoners (UTPs), asking the department to sharpen its technological skills.

Additional Sessions Judge Sonu Agnihotri directed the Delhi Police Commissioner to update the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB) data of the Judicial District South-East and file a compliance report by August 11.

“Get updated SCRB record of Judicial District South-East, so that, in the future, bail applications of UTPs are not delayed because of not knowing the present status of cases pending against UTPs along with replies to bail applications of UTPs,” the judge said in an order dated July 26.

The judge observed that involvement reports of UTPs are usually not updated, which compels the police to seek time for verification of the case status, leading to unnecessary delay in disposal of bail applications.

He further said that in today’s time and age, when almost all information is available on the click of a mouse, it was pathetic that the Delhi Police was still not updating records regularly.

“I think the time has come for Delhi Police to sharpen its skills so far as implementation of technology is concerned,” the judge said.

The issue of outdated case records arose during the hearing of a bail application in a matter pertaining to the alleged robbery.

During the hearing, Additional Public Prosecutor F.M. Ansari cited the report of accused Surender filed by an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) and said that he was involved in seven more cases.

Advocate Rizwan Ali, counsel for the accused, however, apprised the court that trial was underway in only three matters, and that he had either been acquitted or discharged in the rest of the cases.

The ASI replied that he was not aware of the exact status of the pending cases and that the involvement report filed by him was on the basis of the records maintained by the SCRB. He then sought an adjournment in the matter.

Dismissing the ASI’s request, the court granted bail to Surender and directed that the copy of the order be sent to the Delhi Police Commissioner for information and compliance.