Amit Shah pushes for technology integration in criminal law rollout | India News

NEW DELHI: Emphasising on the use of technology in implementation of the new criminal laws, home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said it should enable generation of alerts for all criminal cases at pre-defined stages and timelines — right from registration to disposal — for the benefit of victims and complainants.
Chairing a review meeting on the implementation of the Bharatiya nyaya sanhita, the Bharatiya nagarik suraksha sanhita and the Bharatiya sakshya adhiniyam with the National crime records bureau (NCRB) brass here, Shah also suggested alerts for investigation officers and senior officers as per pre-defined timelines, so as to expedite the process of investigation.
The review meeting — attended by senior officials of the home ministry, NCRB and National informatics centre (NIC) — took stock of the implementation of integration of various software and databases pertaining to investigation, prosecution, forensics and courts at the all-India level. These include the crime and criminal tracking network and systems (CCTNS), national automated fingerprint identification system (NAFIS), prisons, courts, prosecution and forensics with the Interoperable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) 2.0.
In a separate meeting here on Tuesday, Shah also reviewed the implementation of the new criminal laws in Uttarakhand with the state chief secretary and DGP, in the presence of chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. Asking Dhami to fully implement the laws — which he said are becoming “protectors of civil rights” and the basis of “ease of justice” — as soon as possible, he emphasised on the need to fill the gaps in technology and other areas for their 100% rollout.
During the discussions with NCRB, Shah directed the bureau to facilitate complete implementation of new criminal laws in the ICJS 2.0, besides emphasising on usage of applications like eSakshya, Nyaya shruti, eSign and eSummons in every state and UT.
On incorporating modern technology for proper implementation of the new criminal laws, Shah said a team of officers of MHA and NCRB should visit the states and UTs to increase the adoption of technical projects and assist them in all possible ways.
The home minister called for regular interaction with senior police formations of state and UTs to monitor the progress of CCTNS and ICJS, and provide impetus to the project. He added that use of biometric technology should be adopted to identify unidentified dead bodies and unidentified found persons.
Appreciating NCRB’s efforts in the technical rollout of the new criminal laws and NAFIS, Shah said the NCRB should create a data-rich platform to benefit the investigation officers and other stakeholders in the criminal justice system.
While reviewing implementation of the three laws in Uttarakhand, Shah said more than one forensic van must be deployed in every district. He called for regular and continuous monitoring of how many zero FIRs have led to justice and how many were transferred to the states.
The home minister asked Dhami to review progress of implementation of the new laws every fortnight. This frequency should be once a week for the chief secretary and DGP, he added. Shah also asked the DGP to ensure that all superintendents of police investigate the cases within the prescribed timelines.