GRP to launch e-transfer of FIRs

The Government Railway Police (GRP) across the state have decided to introduce the e-transfer of FIRs to and from railway police stations across the country. With this move, the GRP plans to make life easier for passengers who want to file an FIR and ensure that investigation into an offence is launched quickly.

According to the GRP, in most cases, a train passenger comes to know that a crime has taken place when he is about to get off the train or when he wakes up from sleep during a long journey. The passenger then usually approaches the nearest GRP police station to register the offence. But, as per Indian law, prosecution can only take place in the jurisdiction of the court under which the crime took place. Hence, an FIR is registered at whichever police station the passenger approaches, but is later transferred to the police station under the jurisdiction of which the crime took place. The entire process of sending all the paperwork takes time, due to which the investigation into the case cannot be launched immediately.

"To make things easier, we have now decided that as soon as an offence is registered, a scanned copy of the FIR, along with a confirmation call, will be sent to the police station under the jurisdiction of which the crime took place, so that the police station concerned can then launch an investigation immediately," said a senior GRP officer. He added: "Later, we will send the proper document as we do even now since that procedure can't be done away with as of now."