Shah to launch Bharatpol portal today to help govt agencies

Union home minister Amit Shah is scheduled to launch an information-sharing platform, Bharatpol, developed by the Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday, an official statement said on Monday.

The platform is expected to allow state police forces as well as central agencies to seamlessly send their requests and coordinate information sharing for international assistance in criminal matters, the statement from ministry of home affairs said.

“Bharatpol portal will significantly facilitate Indian LEAs (law enforcement agencies) enabling real-time information sharing for faster access to international police assistance,” the statement said.

The development of the platform was necessitated amid a growing footprint of transnational crimes, including cyber-crime, it said.

“The growing footprint of transnational crimes including cyber-crime, financial crimes, online radicalization, organized crimes, drug trafficking, human trafficking etc, necessitates rapid and real-time international assistance in criminal investigations. To address this challenge, CBI has developed Bharatpol portal, accessible through its official website, which will bring all the stakeholders on a common platform,” the home ministry said.

The portal, it added, will streamline the processing of all requests for international assistance through Interpol, including the issuance of red notices and other colour-coded notices.

“The Bharatpol portal will become a transformative tool for field-level police officers, enhancing their efficiency in dealing with crimes and security challenges. By facilitating easier and faster access to international assistance, it will strengthen India’s efforts in combating transnational crimes,” the home ministry said.

The idea to develop a platform for real-time information on international assistance was approved by CBI director Praveen Sood last year.

“Due to back-and-forth letters between CBI and states’ police on their international assistance requests, the matters were often delayed,” an officer, who asked not to be named, said.

CBI, which is the National Central Bureau (NCB) for Interpol in India, coordinates all requests from police departments of all states and other agencies for issuance of notices and request for information from other countries on fugitives, evidence or extraditions and deportations.

At the central, state and union territory levels, this coordination is executed through Interpol Liaison Officers (ILOs), who are further linked to Unit Officers (UO’s) at the level of superintendents of police (SPs), Commissioners of police and banch heads, within their respective organizations. Presently, communications among the CBI, ILOs, and UOs primarily relies on letters, emails and faxes.

The anti-corruption agency’s Global Operation Centre handled 17,368 international assistance requests in 2023 and as many as 100 red notices were issued by Interpol on criminals and fugitives wanted by Indian law enforcement agencies, the highest ever in a year.

Apart from red notice, other notices issued by the Interpol include – yellow notices for missing persons, blue notice for information about a person’s identity, location, or activities in relation to a criminal investigation; black notice to seek information on unidentified bodies, green notice to provide warning about a person’s criminal activities, orange notice to warn of an event, a person, an object or a process representing a serious and imminent threat to public safety and purple notice to seek or provide information on modus operandi, objects, devices and concealment methods used by criminals.