BHUBANESWAR : As part of State government’s 5T initiative, Odisha Police has started monitoring investigation of heinous crimes through its in-house ‘special report application’, developed by the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB).
Special report category cases include offences like rape, sexual violence against children, murder, dacoity, dowry deaths, atrocities against SC/ST, cybercrime, kidnapping, narcotics, food adulteration, economic offences and others. While the police’s Human Rights Protection Cell (HRPC) monitors investigation of cases related to atrocities, the Criminal Investigation Department of Crime Branch oversees the probe of other offences under special report category. The SPs are regularly checking cases registered in their respective districts on a mobile application called ‘Arakhi’, which serves as the database of all FIRs registered in police station and helps in deciding which case needs to be specified as special category.
The SPs tag the special category cases and direct officers of the rank of Additional SP/DSP to supervise their investigation. The investigating officer (IO) also receives a notification on the special report application after his/her case is specified as special category. A supervision report is then submitted by a senior officer to Crime Branch, HRPC and Range DIGs via the application. After examining the officers concerned can provide a set of instructions to the IO to ensure the case is watertight. The IO then submits a compliance report on the application.
The online platform enables senior officers including the DGP to monitor probe of special category cases. “As part of government’s 5T initiative, the special report module was implemented on an Information Technology platform in January this year. The application is fully operational now and is being used by around 4,000 officers across the State to provide services to people in a time-bound and transparent manner,” SCRB Director Vinaytosh Mishra told TNIE.
The application is auto-generating around 80 per cent reports and has been integrated with the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems. “The application has enabled senior officers to promptly provide instructions to the IOs and it also helps in filing of chargesheets on time,” said Mishra.
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