Soon, ATM-Style Machines to Help Citizens Log Police Complaints

 NDTV

There is good news for those who dread registering a complaint at a police station. The government may soon launch a hi-tech project that will minimise policemen’s interference and make the police accountable for not taking note of complaints from citizens.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefed about this on Sunday in Guwahati, at a conference of senior police and intelligence officials of the country.

The solution presented to PM Modi is much like an ATM machine, which will be installed at public sector banks, and allow a citizen to log a complaint. The complaint will be sent straight to relevant police station, thereby taking away the discretion of the police station of whether or not to take cognizance of a complaint.

And that’s not all. A citizen can also write his/her complaint on a piece of paper and deposit that in the machine, which will also work as a telephone and a computer. The machine, called ICLICK, will log all such inputs and generate a number and receipt immediately for the complainant.

This step is being seen as means to empower weaker sections of society, who often bear the brunt of police negligence and callousness. “The receipt generated and log serves two purposes – it works as a daily diary entry whereas the logs would be available to senior officers who then use it to check with the concerned station,” a senior officer associated with the project told NDTV.

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