Amit Shah launches Bharatpol for international police assistance
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, on Tuesday, launched Bharatpol, a portal developed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which will significantly facilitate Indian law enforcement agencies to enable real-time information sharing for faster access to international police assistance.
“This is a step to take international investigation to a new level where every probe agency, every state police force can easily connect with the Interpol and can speed up their probe,” Shah said.
Till now CBI facilitated international cooperation in criminal matters in collaboration with various agencies across the country, including law enforcement agencies.
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, Commissioners of Police and Branch Heads, within their respective organizations. Presently, communications among the CBI, ILOs, and UOs primarily rely on letters, emails and faxes.
The growing footprint of transnational crimes necessitated rapid and real-time international assistance in criminal investigations. Following this, the CBI has now developed BHARATPOL Portal, accessible through its official website, which will bring all the stakeholders on a common platform.
“This portal has been developed after a detailed exercise. I believe this portal will become a transformative tool for probe agencies in dealing with crimes and security challenges,” Shah said.
He said several criminals after committing crime in the country have for a long time remained out of the reach of Indian law as they fled to some other country.
“The time has now come that using a developed system, we bring those criminals, who are sitting abroad after committing crime here, within the reach of Indian law,” Shah said.
The Home Minister said that under the three new criminal laws, they have introduced “Trial in Absentia” provision. “With this provision, we can start a trial against any criminal who is sitting abroad. Moreover, if these criminals are convicted during the trial, then their process of deportation will also be become easy,” he said.
Notably, “trial in absentia” refers to conducting a criminal trial without the presence of the accused person in court. Earlier, Indian law did not allow trial, conviction or sentencing of any person in absentia even for heinous offences.
Under Section 355 of the BNSS, the Judge or Magistrate may conduct a trial of an accused in his absence if it is deemed that the personal attendance of the accused is not necessary in the interests of justice, or if the accused persistently disturbs the proceedings in court.
