Delhi HC Asks NIC to Develop Public Platform to Upload Names of Proclaimed Offenders

The Delhi High Court has asked the National Informatics Center (NIC) to develop software and other facilities for uploading the names and details of alleged perpetrators to enable citizens to assist the police with information regarding their whereabouts and assist the state in taking further action against them. .

She said a court-appointed committee headed by the Chief District Judge and Sessions Judge (Headquarters) here would monitor the implementation of her directives. The court said the data will initially be uploaded to the internal servers and later on the public platform which will be developed by the NIC after verification.

“The NIC, under the direction of the aforementioned Monitoring Committee, shall develop the necessary software and provide the infrastructure, web space and data search facilities for the implementation of the project to upload the names and other details of the declared offenders and the declared persons,” Justice Talwant Singh said in a recent order.

“Initially, data on alleged perpetrators/persons is uploaded to the internal servers and should be accessible only to authorized persons, until the data is checked, re-examined and verified by the stakeholders and then it can be uploaded to the public platform to be developed from Before the NIC of Delhi District Courts,” Judge Singh said.

Senior Advocate Arun Mohan appeared as an amicus curiae (amicus curiae) in this matter. Judge Singh left office last month. The court has ordered that Delhi Police and local courts will be responsible for uploading data of declared offender/declared persons in criminal cases and the manager/in charge of an interoperable criminal justice system shall ensure all possible technical and tactical support to the project.

The Interoperable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) is an initiative of the Electronic Commission of the Supreme Court that aims to enable the seamless transfer of data and information between the various pillars of the criminal justice system, such as courts, police, prisons and forensic science laboratories, from a single platform.

The court also said at this point, that only statements of declared offenders in cases registered by Delhi Police and defendants who are declared offenders/declared persons in private complaints filed directly in Delhi District Courts may be uploaded.

It added data related to cases registered by other law enforcement agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation and Execution Department can be downloaded after a gap of at least six months, subject to the final decision to be taken by the Monitoring Committee.

The court added that Delhi Police officials as well as local courts, who will be responsible for uploading the data, are expected to use databases such as web search engines and other data available with other agencies, to update information about addresses and other details of declared criminals/declared persons.

The court also asked Delhi Police (Headquarters) to assess the manpower required to operate a central cell to process and coordinate information related to reported offenders.

It also directed the Government of Delhi to refer the amicus curiae proposal regarding the introduction of statutory provisions on the treatment of alleged perpetrators to the relevant authorities for consideration. The court asked the oversight committee to submit its report every three months.

The National Information Center (NIC) of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is the technology partner of the Government of India. It was established in 1976 with the aim of providing technology-driven solutions to central and state governments in various aspects of development, according to the NIC website.

(This story was not edited by the News18 staff and was published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)