Delhi police launch online FIR for vehicle thefts

Delhi Police today began its ambitious project of registering online FIRs in motor vehicle theft cases through its website and a dedicated app with the first day seeing lodging of five such cases.
The test run for online registration of motor vehicle theft app started today midnight in South District.
Complaints can be lodged through mobile or web any time anywhere without going to police stations as the e-police station will have jurisdiction all over NCT of Delhi.
"An e-police station has been created under Crime Branch for registration of cases for motor vehicles theft. Five FIRs have been registered on the first day," said Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat.

"The test run has been initiated in order to study the problems on the ground to make the app more user-friendly and remove technical glitches," he said.
Once the app stabilizes it will be launched for all the police stations in Delhi and will be available for public on mobile and web, he added.

Motor vehicles thefts in Delhi is a cause of public frustration and anger towards Police. Public expect early recovery of vehicle and apprehension of the culprits because MV Theft causes not only an economic loss but also loss of mobiity.
Senior police officials concede that investigation in auto theft cases rarely proceeds from crime to criminal because no tell-tale signs are generally left at the spot. The breakthrough in these cases invariably is the consequence of human or technical intelligence based operations.

Since most of Motor Vehicles are insured, victims expect police to promptly register their complaint and take up investigation for early finalization of the case so that they can claim insurance if the vehicle is not recovered.
"The mobile/web application has been developed to enable the complainant to register First Information Report (FIR) and instantly receive a copy of the same without going to a police station," Bhagat said.
With the new app, immediate online lodging/downloading of FIR for vehicles stolen in Delhi will be possible and an "Untraced Report" to the complainant to facilitate insurance claim duly accepted by the concerned designated court will also be furnished.

In case of recovery of stolen vehicles, their details could be easily matched from the centralized databases which translate into timely disposal of cases to reduce pendency at police stations and courts.