Filing FIRs online will soon be reality

Complaints can be filed for 7 crime and related services

New Delhi, Oct. 2: Citizens can soon file complaints of seven crime and related services online and get the FIRs registered as the Centre looks at launching “citizen-centric portals” for all states, officials said.

The portal will allow the citizens to seek antecedent verification of prospective employees like domestic helps, drivers, tenants or for any other purpose.

“The state citizen-centric portals are ready to be launched in all states and Union Territories (UTs) soon,” a Home Ministry official said.

The concept is a ‘SMART’ policing initiative of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) as enunciated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide services to citizens and aid efficient police investigations.

The virtual platform will offer online facility to register FIRs initially in seven crime and related services in 34 states and UTs that include person and address verification of employees, tenants and nurses, permission for hosting public events, lost and found articles and vehicle theft.

It aims at turning criminal investigation a “citizen-friendly” affair. The citizens’ reports and requests are forwarded to states and Union Territories police without loss of time for follow-up action, the official said.

The citizens can also seek certification of their antecedents via the portal. To protect privacy of individuals concerned and for national security reasons, the crime data and reports can be searched only by authorised police officers.

The citizens who seek criminal antecedent verification services will be provided responses through e-mail, another official said.

While addressing an annual conference of police chiefs of all states in 2014 in Guwahati, the prime minister had advocated the concept of SMART policing in the country.

Modi had said that he wanted a police force which took care of the country’s law and order in an efficient manner.

“By ‘SMART’ policing, I mean S for strict but sensitive, M for modern and mobile, A for alert and accountable, R for reliable and responsive and T for techno-savvy and