Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said all Central agencies such as the CBI, National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) should be linked to the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS)- the centralised online database of First Information Reports (FIRs), charge sheets and investigation reports.
“Nearly 99% of the police stations in the country are connected to CCTNS. But Central agencies such as the CBI, NIA and the NCB are not on this platform. FIR is a public document, what is the secrecy around it? Agencies should not resist, it is not an option [to join CCTNS]. Charge sheet is also a public document. What kind of information has to be shared can be decided professionally by the agencies,” he stated.
The CCTNS is a platform that links around 16,000 police stations across the country. All State police are mandated to file FIRs in the CCTNS module. The project was conceptualised and initated in 2009.
Mr. Shah asked Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla to convene a meeting of Director General of Police of all the Central agencies to bring them to the CCTNS fold.
He was speaking at the 37thfoundation day celebration of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
‘Social eye’
The NCRB should expand its scope of work focussing on “social eye” and not merely be content as the repository of crime data. The NCRB operates and maintains the CCTNS platform.
“You have been doing this work for 27 years, the NCRB data should not only be used by the States to boast about low crime data. The NCRB presents crime data through the prism of the Indian Penal Code. The data should have social eye. For example, what is the crime trend around educational institutions and hostels. The crime scenario before agriculture season kicks in,” he remarked.
He noted that when he was Gujarat’s Home Minister he noticed that whenever the State was affected by drought, the crime rate showed a spike. “These crimes were not deliberate. The Superintendent of Police should meet the relief commissioners or the relevant authorities in matters of such crime and look for a solution.”
The National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS) that has a database of fingerprints of around 1 crore crime suspects should be popularised. “Short video clips on NAFIS should be made viral. Its utility should be told to the public that if a crime has taken place, then the police can reach the suspect’s doorstep by matching the fingerprint with the NAFIS database.”
Online FIRs
Similarly, the use of online FIRs should also be publicised. “We see often that the knowledge and access to the platforms is only limited to IPS (Indian Police Service) officers, it should percolate to those sitting in police stations. I believe NCRB has a role to play here,” he observed.
The NCRB should simplify data, as presently the records were intense and if someone had to get data they could even obtain it manually by making few calls.
The Inter Operable Criminal Justice System (IOCJS) that links various pillars such as courts, forensics, prisons and police stations had been allocated over ₹3,500 crore and the scheme had been extended till 2026.
The NCRB data should not be only used to boast that a State had done well on the crime front, he added.
