In some crimes, people in Chandigarh will be able to file complaints online: DGP

The Chandigarh director general of police (DGP), Sanjay Beniwal, said they are in the midst of getting a new system that will facilitate the people to file their complaints in specific incidents online.

In a conversation with the HT, Beniwal said, “The new services are being brought to empower the citizens to approach the police. People will be able to register their complaints online from which FIRs will be registered. It will be beneficial because this will limit the scope of corruption. It will also take care of the people’s complaint that not all the cases are registered.”

The DGP though didn’t reveal by when this service will be rolled out, adding that it’s in nascent stage.

The DGP added that this practice will be brought over from Delhi. In his stint in the capital, Beniwal served as the special commissioner and was behind the introduction of e-FIRs for specific crimes such as thefts and motor vehicle (MV) thefts.

For MV theft, ever since the concept was rolled out in 2015, 95% of all the FIRs registered till 2017 were registered through this medium. The complainant enters the vehicle’s registration number and insurance details. The option can be accessed via the Delhi police’s website.

The complaints for lost and found can be registered over the internet in Delhi. Till 2017, 46 lakh such complaints were received online in the capital, ever since the service started in 2014.

The Delhi police has also launched apps to facilitate the citizens. Released in 2015, their ‘One Touch Away’ acts as a medium for the cops to communicate with the people and vice-versa.

Then ‘Himmat Plus’ app was launched in January 2018 for the safety of women. It has a special feature for scanning the QR codes of taxi, auto-rickshaw and e-rickshaw drivers to verify their details.