Amit Shah to Launch Bharatpol for Enhanced International Police Cooperation

Amit Shah to Launch Bharatpol: Union home minister Amit Shah will inaugurate Bharatpol, a new state-of-the-art platform, in the capital on Tuesday in order to allow police forces of states, union territories and central agencies to seamlessly send their requests and coordinate information sharing in real-time for international assistance in criminal matters.

It is developed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under the project "Demand-Driven Services" which will make the entire process of sending requests from abroad, including red notices request, queries, obtaining information, or responding, entirely "paperless".

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“Bharatpol portal will significantly facilitate Indian LEAs (law enforcement agencies) enabling real-time information sharing for faster access to international police assistance,” Union home ministry said in a statement on Monday.

CBI is the National Central Bureau (NCB) of India for Interpol that holds responsibility for all requests from the police and other agencies of states/ UTs for the issuance of such notices, and requests for information from foreign countries on fugitives, evidence, or extradition and deportation cases. It is through Interpol Liaison Officers (ILOs), who are charged with coordination of activities at national, state, and union territory levels, that requests are sent to and from the above-mentioned body. The ILOs are additionally connected to Unit Officers (UOs) via the level of superintendents of police (SPs), Commissioners of police and branch heads, within their respective organisations. At present communications among CBI, ILOs and UOs are primarily based on letters, emails and faxes.

The Global Operation Center of the anti-corruption agency handled 17,368 international assistance requests in 2023, also recording the highest-ever number of red notices by Interpol at a time - 100 - on the criminals and fugitives wanted by law enforcement agencies in India.

“The growing footprint of transnational crimes including cyber-crime, financial crimes, online radicalization, organized crimes, drug trafficking, human trafficking etc, necessitates rapid and real-time international assistance in criminal investigations. To address this challenge, CBI has developed Bharatpol portal, accessible through its official website, which will bring all the stakeholders on a common platform,” the home ministry said.

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According to the same source, the website shall raise the efficiency of the facilitation of all requests for international assistance through Interpol, like requests for red notices and all additional kinds of color-coded notices. “The Bharatpol portal will become a transformative tool for field-level police officers, enhancing their efficiency in dealing with crimes and security challenges. By facilitating easier and faster access to international assistance, it will strengthen India’s efforts in combating transnational crimes,” the home ministry said.

Besides the red notice, other notices of the Interpol comprise yellow notices for missing persons, blue notice information about identification, location, or activities of a person in relation to an inquiry; black notice that seeks information for unidentified corpses; green notice that warns about a person's criminal activity; orange notice that informs about something, someone, an object, or a process threatening public safety in a serious and imminent way; purple notice that seeks or provides information about modus operandi, objects, devices, and methods used in concealment by criminals.

CBI Director Praveen Sood approved the concept for a real-time platform on international assistance in the direction of the same last year.

An officer, who asked not to be named said - “Due to back-and-forth letters between CBI and states’ police on their international assistance requests, the matters were often delayed”.

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