Context:
Recently, Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched the ‘Bharatpol’ portal, designed to enhance international collaboration for law enforcement agencies.
About BHARATPOL
Full name: – Broadcast hub for assistance and real-time action against transnational crimes via international police cooperation.
Bharatpol is a portal developed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to help law enforcement agencies in India work more efficiently with international police forces.
Bharatpol will streamline international cooperation by enabling faster and more direct communication with Interpol.
It will speed up criminal investigations involving transnational crimes by providing real-time assistance.
There are five key modules of Bharatpol – Connect, INTERPOL Notices, References, Broadcast, and Resources.
- Through Connect, all our law enforcement agencies will essentially function as an extension of INTERPOL’s National Central Bureau (NCB-New Delhi).
- Requests for assistance from the 195 member countries of INTERPOL will be available on the Broadcast module.
- The Resources module will make it easy to exchange and manage documents and resources.
Why Did the CBI Develop Bharatpol?
- The CBI functions as the National Central Bureau for INTERPOL in India (NCB-New Delhi) and connects all law enforcement agencies in India to law enforcement agencies in 195 other countries through Interpol.
- Currently, Indian agencies coordinate with Interpol through emails, letters, and faxes, causing delays in investigations.
- Bharatpol was created to make this process faster and more efficient, especially as transnational crimes are rising and need quick international collaboration.
Key feature of the BHARATPOL portal
- Unified Platform: This portal integrates the CBI as the Interpol (NCB-New Delhi) with all law enforcement authorities in India, down to Superintendents of Police (SPs) and Commissioners of Police (CPs), ensuring a unified approach to international collaboration.
- Rapid Information Dissemination: This portal enables the CBI as the NCB to rapidly share criminal intelligence and inputs from 195 countries with all law enforcement agencies in India, thus providing real-time access to crucial information.
- Simplified Request Mechanism: This portal allows front-line police officers to easily and promptly request international assistance from 195 Interpol member countries using standardised templates.
- Increase utilisation of Interpol notices: This portal will enable easy drafting of Red Corner Notice requests and other colour-coded notices of Interpol. This will lead to effective tracking of crime, criminals and proceeds of crime globally.
- Capacity Building and Training: This portal also provides access to relevant documents, templates, and training resources, enhancing the capability of frontline officers to conduct investigations abroad and seek foreign assistance effectively through Interpol.