On the directions of the Supreme Court, the Union Home Ministry has uploaded the details of proclaimed offenders across the country on its portal, digitalpolice.gov.in.
The portal was launched in 2017 for citizens to file crime-related complaints and seek antecedent verification of prospective employees, tenants and to seek certification of their own antecedents.
On February 17, the Supreme Court, while hearing a case of a convict who had jumped bail in 2011 and was yet to be arrested by the Haryana police even after 49 raids, had issued notice to the Home Ministry. The court said a national portal be set up with details of such proclaimed offenders. The portal should also be accessible to the general public.
“In the first instance, to facilitate a national portal, let notice be issued to the Union of India through the Ministry of Home Affairs which may depute a counsel to assist us in this behalf where after the Union of India can itself take up the issue with the State governments,” the court order read.
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) was tasked to develop the system. The NCRB launched the online citizen service on Friday.
Directors General of Police of all States were asked to mandatorily fill the “proclaimed offenders” details and their photographs on the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS).
The CCTNS software interconnects more than 15,000 police stations and additional 5,000 offices of supervisory police officers across the country and has digitised data related to FIR registration, investigation and chargesheets in all police stations.
