37th Foundation of National Crime Records Bureau | 14 Mar 2022

For Prelims: NCRB and its functions, E-Prison, E-Forensic, E-Prosecution, E-Court, Artificial Intelligence, Block Chain.

For Mains: State of Crime in India and related issues.

Why in News?

Recently the 37^th Foundation Day of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) was celebrated (11th March 1986).

What is the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)?

About:
- NCRB, headquartered in New Delhi, was set-up in 1986 under the Ministry of Home Affairs to function as a repository of information on crime and criminals so as to assist the investigators in linking crime to the perpetrators.
- It was set up based on the recommendations of the National Police Commission (1977-1981) and the MHA’s Task Force (1985).
Functions:
- The Bureau has been entrusted to maintain National Database of Sexual Offenders (NDSO) and share it with the States/UTs on regular basis.
- NCRB has also been designated as the Central Nodal Agency to manage technical and operational functions of the ‘Online Cyber-Crime Reporting Portal’ through which any citizen can lodge a complaint or upload a video clip as an evidence of crime related to child pornography, rape/gang rape.
- The responsibility of implementation of the Inter-operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) has also been given to the NCRB.
  - ICJS is a national platform for enabling integration of the main IT system used for delivery of Criminal Justice in the country.
  - It seeks to integrate the five pillars of the system viz Police (through Crime and Criminal Tracking and Network Systems), e-Forensics for Forensic Labs, e-Courts for Courts, e-Prosecution for Public Prosecutors and e-Prisons for Prisons.
  - The Government of India has set a target of the second phase of ICJS (Inter-operable Criminal Justice System) by 2026 with an expenditure of about Rs. 3,500 crore.
Major Publications:

What is the State of Crime in India?

According to the Crime in India Report 2020:
- Communal riots registered an increase of 96% in 2020 over the previous year.
- The number of cases registered for crimes against women, children and senior citizens, theft, burglary, robbery and dacoity, among others, dropped by about 2 lakh.
- Cases under the ‘environment-related offences’ category increased by 78.1% in the country in 2020.
- The rate of cyber crime (incidents per lakh population) also increased from 3.3% in 2019 to 3.7% in 2020.

How can the Functioning of the NCRB be Strengthened?

States should use NCRB’s data in formulating their annual police strategy, it should have a multi-dimensional and multi-purposed use in crime control, only then will this institution become result-oriented.
16,390 police stations in the country have been connected on CCTNS, but Central agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) are still not connected with it.
- All Agencies must join the CCTNS as soon as possible and make data 100 percent complete.
After the completion of phase 2 of ICJS, it should be made increasingly useful by using Artificial Intelligence, Block Chain, analytical tools and fingerprint system.

Source: PIB