Bihar Police set to go digital from January 1, 2024: Official

Bihar police is all set to go digital from January 1, 2024, with computerisation of police station work under the Criminal Tracking and Networking System (CCTNS), said a senior official of state police headquarters (PHQ) on Wednesday.

Additional director general of police (ADGP) Jitendra Singh Gangwar said maintenance of manual registers, including entry of station diaries, will go online at various police stations across the state from January 2024.

Traditionally, the station diary is recorded manually, but with CCTNS, it is all set to become digital, Gangwar said. The station diaries provide evidence in documentary form of the entire business conducted at a police station on any day.

In the station diary, the station house officers (SHOs) are empowered to also record the interference and influence of higher officials or people’s representatives. This record is used even for initiating action against them by placing the record before the higher authorities as well as the court of law.

“The back-dated entries are done by the police officers to justify their (SHOs) illegal actions. But digitisation will stop that,” said another police officer aware of the development.

A station diary, being the record of the affairs of the police station daily, must mandatorily contain in chronological order a record of all things that have happened at the police station. The diary also assists in keeping track of the movement of police officers on duty and is updated every two hours.

Earlier, police only uploaded the first information reports on the CCTNS portal. Out of 1033 police stations across the state, 964 have been equipped with the CCTNS project.

“With the system going online, senior officers, including district superintendents of police, range deputy inspector generals of police and inspector generals can now access station diaries of any police station and keep track of the movement of personnel,” ADGP Gangwar said.

This is another by Bihar DGP Rajwinder Singh Bhatti towards paperless policing, said Gangwar, adding that once the personnel in the online system makes a diary entry, the time and date are automatically recorded, thus eliminating chances of manipulation.

This will increase the value of evidence as complainants will not be able to make allegations about delays in station diary entries being made.

Patna SSP Rajiv Mishra said that the Patna police are already working on the directive of PHQ. “We have started the digital upload of station diaries in all the police stations. Police personnel from January 1 have been directed to digital entry and update every two hours,” added Mishra.