Service And The Force

Context: Technology for service delivery to citizens needs to be prioritised by police leadership. This is a task it can focus on without political interference

Implications of the inefficient criminal justice system:

    

• Economic: Economic cost is reflected in the reluctance of foreign companies to set up manufacturing and commercial ventures in India for want of quick settlement of criminal, labour and civil disputes.

• Social: The social implications can be gauged from the report, “Crime in India 2019”, published by the National Crime Records Bureau.

• • As per the report, 25,023 cases of assault on women, 11,966 rape cases and 4,197 “dowry deaths” have been pending trial for five to 10 years. 

• Political: The procedures are non-transparent, and timelines are often blurred. 

• They encourage corrupt practices, as can be seen from the ongoing saga in Maharashtra, where top police officers are facing allegations of extortion.

• • Technology has not been prioritised; according to India Justice Report 2020 - despite the push for digitisation, no state offered the complete bouquet of services and often face accessibility issues.

• Gaps in technology: Indian Police Journal 2020 found that “most sites were available in English or Hindi, but not necessarily in the state language”,—leading to accessibility issues.

• • Lost enthusiasm for change: Police made a good start at the beginning of the millennia but probably lost interest midway. There are two reasons for it – 

• • • One, police leaders do not understand the difficulties that citizens face at the police station level;
    • Two, citizens fail to hold us accountable for the non-use of technology.

Way Forward:

• Bring in Technology-driven service delivery mechanisms: Geared towards – 

• Improvement in investigation and prosecution and reducing the delays by ensuring time-bound delivery of the above-mentioned services to citizens.

• Ensuring transparency by a defined process with a timeline and clear delineation of the levels of police officers involved.

• Helping states: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) earmarked about Rs 20,000 crore for the modernisation of police (2017-2020) for schemes such as crime and criminal tracing networks and systems (CCTNS), police wireless and e-prisons. States can take up this crucial service delivery mechanism.