Delhi High Court Calls For Integration Of Non-FIR Complaint Data, Pending & Decided Court Cases On NCRB Portal

The Delhi High Court has called for integration of data of complaint cases which do not result in FIRs as also cases which are pending or decided by the competent Courts on the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) portal.

A division bench comprising Justice Prathiba M Singh and Justice Madhu Jain asked the Director of NCRB as also DDG of National Informatics Centre (NIC) to file status reports as to whether any steps have been contemplated for integrating the said data on the NCRB portal.

The data includes pending criminal cases against the Prison inmates apart from the case in which they are lodged in jail, complaint cases which do not result in FIRs and complaint cases which are pending or decided by the competent Courts.

This was after the Commissioner of Police Delhi took a stand that the comprehensive criminal justice data ecosystem would be strengthened if the data captured by the NCRB can be expanded to include the aforesaid types of cases also.

“In the light of the two status reports that have been placed on record today, this Court is of the opinion that steps ought to be explored for integrating data on the NCRB portal, relating to complaint cases which do not result in FIRs as also complaint cases which are pending or decided by the competent Courts,” the Court said.

The Bench passed the directions while hearing an appeal filed by one Parveen Taneja, who had challenged his conviction and life sentence for murdering his wife, as well as his application for suspension of sentence.

On January 12, the Court had referred to the Supreme Court's decisions in Kaushal Singh v. State of Rajasthan and Jagjeet Singh & Ors. v. Ashish Mishra @ Monu & Anr. in which the need for details of criminal antecedents of persons seeking bail was underscored.

Taking note that repeated adjournments were sought in suspension of sentence and bail matters due to non-availability of such information, the Court had called for two mechanisms: mandatory disclosure of past criminal involvement by applicants through an affidavit filed with the suspension application, and integration of criminal court data with the NCRB portal so that even private complaint cases and non‑FIR matters are reflected.

Pursuant to the said directions, status reports were called from the Director General of Prisons, Delhi and the Commissioner of Police.

While issuing directions to the authorities, the Court noted that the trial court had already referred the matter to the Delhi Legal Services Authority, South East, for compensation to the family of the deceased and the complainant.

It thus directed DLSA (South East) to file a status report on whether compensation has been assessed and disbursed.

Regarding the convict's application seeking bail or suspension of sentence, the Court dismissed the plea noting that the convict's presence at the spot was confirmed by two prosecution witnesses.

The Court further noted that the photographs of the scene “revealed the manner in which the deceased was brutally murdered”. It thus held that it was not inclined to suspend the sentence.

The matter will now be heard on April 16.

Title: PARVEEN TANEJA v. STATE OF NCT OF DELHI

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