Context: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday set a target of reducing the crime rate in the country by 20 per cent in the next five years.

Key Points

• He asked states and Union Territories to use the National Crime Records Bureau data for preparing their annual crime control strategy. 
• Stating that FIR is a public document, he 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. 

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.”

Note: 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.

• “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,” 

Further he pointed out that 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.
Key Steps taken to boost this

• The Inter Operable Criminal Justice System (IOCJS) that links various pillars such as courts, forensics, prisons and police stations had been allocated over Rs 3,500 crore and the scheme had been extended till 2026. 

Key Benefits

• NCRB data should help reduce the crime rate in India by 20 per cent in next five years if it is made available to the right people at the right time, is kept in proper format and if a system is adopted for its proper analysis and management.
• The NCRB data should not be only used to boast that a State had done well on the crime front.
• But it should be used by all states for preparing annual strategy for crime control and be used in a multi-dimensional and multi-purpose way in crime control.