Help is just a click away

Citizens Take To Police’s E-Complaint System That Deals With 900 Cases Every Month

Mateen Hafeez | TNN

The city police’s initiative encouraging citizens to register their complaints online was met with a fair amount of scepticism when it was introduced two years ago. Today, however, it’s a different story: the team of constables overseeing the esystem is inundated with Mumbaikars’ complaints that add up to nearly a 1,000 every month. “Every day we get a little more than 30 complaints. When we first launched, however, only a few people would send their complaints online,’’ said an official who believes that the project is growing in popularity.

With a click of a button, citizens can register minor (non-cognizable) crimes that range from unauthorised cutting of trees to drug peddling. “After reading the complaints and checking for authenticity, we immediately forward them to the concerned police station or department,’’ said inspector Arundhati Rane, in-charge of the Mumbai police’s web department. For example, a citizen’s complaint about drug peddling is immediately forwarded to the concerned police station, which in turn sends out a team of policemen to the spot. The local police then verify the information given by the complainant and deal with the problem accordingly. The entire operation from the moment the complaint is registered takes around two hours, said an official.

“Senior inspectors of local police stations have to submit a monthly Action Taken Report detailing the complaints they received from this system, their response time, and so on,” he added.

With a staff of just seven police personnel, the department receives comp l a i n t s about missing persons, stolen property, stolen motor vehicles, neighbours’ fights, love affairs, family disputes, etc. Traffic problems, illegal chopping of trees, selling of drugs, water problems, and mobile phone thefts in railways top the list.

Even harried commuters, armed with mobile internet connectivity are quick to register complaints about taxi and autorickshaw drivers. “We receive numerous complaints about erring taxi drivers. But the complainants often do not key in the licence plate, which is important if action has to be taken. When complete information is sent to us, we forward it to the traffic police,’’ said the official.

Anonymous complainants are not entertained. Similarly, those without a valid address or contact details are not forwarded. City crime branch chief Himanshu Roy said: “We try to help all the complainants so that they get justice. In some cases, their names and addresses are not mentioned, which becomes difficult for us. When we get a specific complaint, quick action is taken.’’

Growing Popularity
Every day between 25-30 complaints are received by the online complaint centre

The complaints are examined by a group of seven police personnel and then forwarded to the concerned police station or department

Most of the complaints are about tree cutting, noise pollution, traffic problems, illegal hawkers, suspicious people in the neighbourhood, drug addicts in parks and so on

A citizen can only register minor ‘non-cognizable crimes’. As per the prevailing laws, the FIR of a major crime — like theft, burglary, motor vehicle theft, accident, chain-snatching, assault, rape, murder, attempt to commit murder, robbery, extortion, etc—can only be registered at a police station

How It Works
To file an online complaint, log on to www.mumbaipolice.org and go into the COMPLAINT column on the left hand side of the page. It will open into three sub-sections: ‘Give information about a minor crime’, ‘Complaint’ and ‘Feedback’

Key in your complaint and hit the submit button

You can contact your local police station and ask about the status of your complaint

The Times of India, April 15, 2010