Portal on arrested narcotics offenders gets operational in India

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New
Delhi,
Aug
17:
A
first-of-its-kind
database
of
arrested
narcotics
offenders
has
been
made
operational
for
use
by
various
central
and
state
prosecution
agencies
tasked
to
enforce
anti-drugs
laws
in
the
country,
officials
said.

The
portal–NIDAAN
or
the
National
Integrated
Database
on
Arrested
Narco-offenders–has
been
developed
by
the
Narcotics
Control
Bureau
(NCB).

It
is
part
of
the
narcotics
coordination
mechanism
(NCORD)
portal
that
was
launched
by
Union
Home
Minister
Amit
Shah
on
July
30
in
Chandigarh
during
the
national
conference
on
‘Drug
trafficking
and
national
security’.

Narcotics
worth
Rs
111.41
crore
seized
at
Chennai
airport,
2
held

The
NIDAAN
platform
sources
its
data
from
the
ICJS
(inter-operable
criminal
justice
system)
and
the
e-Prisons
(a
cloud-based
application)
repository
and
it
is
planned
to
integrate
it
in
the
future
with
the
crime
and
criminal
tracking
network
system
or
CCTNS,
a
senior
officer
said,
according
to
news
agency
PTI.

The
ICJS,
an
initiative
of
the
Supreme
Court
e-committee,
was
created
to
enable
seamless
transfer
of
data
and
information
among
different
pillars
of
the
criminal
justice
system,
like
courts,
police,
jails
and
forensic
science
laboratories,
from
one
platform.

“NIDAAN
is
a
one-stop
solution
for
all
narcotics
offenders’ related
data
and
will
help
investigative
agencies
as
an
effective
tool
to
connect
the
dots
while
probing
narcotics
cases,”
NCB
Director
General
S
N
Pradhan
told
PTI.

The
idea
to
create
such
a
portal
was
to
enhance
the
capability
of
all
the
law
enforcement
agencies
working
against
drug
crimes,
he
said.

NIDAAN
hosts
data
about
those
accused
who
have
been
arrested
and
jailed
for
drugs
offences
and
those
who
are
“directly
or
indirectly
involved
in
the
produce,
manufacture,
possession,
selling,
purchase,
transport,
warehousing,
usage,
consumption,
inter-state
import
and
export,
import
into
India,
export
from
India
or
transhipment
of
any
narcotics
or
psychotropic
substance.” According
to
the
blueprint
prepared
for
the
operation
and
usage
of
the
portal,
any
agency
can
search
for
the
crime
history,
personal
details,
fingerprints,
court
cases
and
appeals
made
etc.
with
regard
to
a
drug
offender
from
any
part
of
the
country.

The
login
ID
and
password
for
the
portal
for
use
by
various
central
and
state
anti-drugs
units
can
either
be
obtained
from
the
CCTNS
administrator
and
those
agencies
who
already
have
login
credentials
at
the
ICJS
portal
can
use
the
same
to
operate
NIDAAN,
a
senior
officer
said.

A
distinct
feature
called
‘criminal
network’
on
the
portal
can
also
be
accessed
by
agencies,
as
part
of
which
specific
links
of
an
accused
to
other
crimes,
linked
police
FIRs
and
those
who
visited
them
in
jail
can
also
be
accessed,
the
officer
said.

The
NIDAAN
portal
is
a
vertical
envisaged
under
the
NCORD
and
was
mooted
during
a
national
meeting
on
drug
issues
chaired
by
Home
Minister
Shah
in
December
last
year
in
Delhi.

Shah,
during
the
meeting,
had
also
spoken
about
various
other
plans
for
strengthening
the
coordination
mechanism
on
narcotics
issues
like
asking
all
states
to
create
a
dedicated
anti-narcotics
task
force
(ANTF)
which
can
also
function
as
the
NCORD
secretariat
at
the
state
level,
the
statement
said.

The
minister
had
also
directed
the
agencies
to
“take
some
important
measures
such
as
creation
of
a
national
NCORD
portal
(NIDAAN
being
a
part
of
it),
constitution
of
inter-ministerial
standing
committees
(IMCs)
to
devise
effective
policies
with
regard
to
dual
use
prescription
drugs
and
precursors,
raising
of
a
national
narco-canine
pool
and
establishment
of
drug
de-addiction
centres
in
all
prisons
of
272
most
drugs
affected
districts
etc.”