HYDERABAD: From now on, police will now have to record the reasons, if any, for the delay in lodging a complaint regarding crimes against women. This has been made mandatory as per the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on strengthening the mechanism for dealing with crimes against women.
As per the recommendations, a field, “Reasons for delay in reporting by the complainant/informant” has been added to the FIR format in the Crime and Criminal Tracking Networks and Systems (CCTNS). The Parliamentary Standing Committee has made several recommendations in this aspect, specially SOPs on registration of FIRs including details of Zero FIRs filed and disposed, as well as training to police personnel on dealing with crimes against women. These SOPs have been laid down by the Bureau of Police Research and Development.
Referring to the use of Crime Analytics by Delhi Police in prevention of street crimes through crime mapping and identification of hot spots for reinforced action, the Parliamentary Committee has also recommended similar efforts be taken in other metropolitan cities. The Committee also advised States and UTs to use the crime mapping analytics tools deployed on CCTNS, which have been made available by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
In view of the recommendations, the Women Safety Wing of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has directed all States and UTs to issue directions for early commencement of the procedure and also monitoring the implementation at the ground level regularly to calibrate the action. The MHA has also circulated the format of the FIR to be used.
New field added to FIR format in CCTNs
As per the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Crimes against women, a field, “Reasons for delay in reporting by the complainant / informant” has been added to the FIR format in the Crime and Criminal Tracking Networks