Inter-Operable Criminal Justice System Project

• 19 Feb 2022

For Prelims: Inter-Operable Criminal Justice System, Crime and Criminal Tracking and Network Systems, e-Forensics for e-Courts Courts, e-Prosecution, e-Prisons, National Crime Records Bureau, National Informatics Centre.

For Mains: Cyber Security, Role of Media & Social Networking Sites in Internal Security Challenges, Inter-Operable Criminal Justice System Project.

Why in News?

Recently, the central government approved the implementation of Phase II of the Inter-Operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) project by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

• It has been approved at a total cost of Rs 3,375 crore during the period from 2022-23 to 2025-26.
• Earlier in 2018, a Supreme Court panel had launched a pilot project in Telangana’s Warangal district to integrate two crucial pillars of the criminal justice delivery system- the courts and police stations.

What is ICJS?

• 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 ICJS system would be made available through a dedicated and secure cloud-based infrastructure with high speed connectivity.
• National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) will be responsible for the implementation of the project in association with National Informatics Centre (NIC).
  • The project will be implemented in collaboration with the States and Union Territories.

What are the Different Phases of ICJS?

• In Phase-I of the project, individual IT systems have been implemented and stabilised even as search of records have been enabled on these systems.
• Under Phase-II, the system is being built on the principle of ‘one data one entry’ whereby data is entered only once in one pillar and the same is then available in all other pillars without the need to re-enter the data in each pillar.

What is the National Crime Records Bureau?

• 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).
• NCRB brings out the annual comprehensive statistics of crime across the country (‘Crime in India’ report).
  • Having been published since 1953, the report serves as a crucial tool in understanding the law and order situation across the country.
• The inaugural function of the 2^nd CCTNS Hackathon and Cyber Challenge 2020-21 of NCRB was held in New Delhi.

Source: IE