New Delhi: Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah Friday said that the Centre would create a database on terrorism, crimes, narcotics, and economic offences.
An official spokesman in a statement issued here said that addressing the concluding session of the 90th INTERPOL General Assembly in New Delhi, Shah said, “In the form of ICJS, the core pillars of criminal justice e-Courts, e-Prison, e-Forensics, and e-Prosecution are being integrated with the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and System (CCTNS). The Centre has also decided to develop a national database on terrorism, crime, narcotics, and economic offences. The Government of India has set up the Indian Cyber-Crime Coordination Center (I-4C) to ensure a comprehensive response system to cybercrime.”
He said in today’s world of data and information revolution, the nature of both crime and criminals had changed and there were no geographical boundaries of crime, and if such crimes and criminals were to be stopped, then all had to think and act above the Conventional Geographical Border.
Shah said that given the ‘criminal syndicates’ colluding at the international level using modern technology, there was no reason why countries should not cooperate and coordinate with each other. He said that Police and law enforcement agencies were faced with the twin challenge of enforcing the law within the ambit of the sovereignty of the state and understanding the global nature of the crime, detecting criminals, and worrying about justice.
Shah said amidst these challenges, the role of INTERPOL in easing the work of security agencies was important, and this would be even more important in the future.
Drawing the attention of the General Assembly to some issues in this direction, he said that terrorism was a global problem today and it was extremely relevant that the first and most important target among the seven global policing goals of Interpol for 2020-25 was countering the threat of terrorism.
Shah said terrorism was the biggest violation of human rights and cross-border cooperation was very important to fight cross-border terrorism.
“Without this, we cannot fight cross-border terrorism,” he said. “INTERPOL is the best platform for this.”
Shah emphasised that first of all countries had to agree on the definition of terrorism and terrorist.
“If there is no consensus on the definitions of terrorism and terrorist, then we cannot fight the global battle in unison,” he said.
Shah said that the commitment to fight against terrorism together and narratives like “good terrorism, bad terrorism” and “terrorist attack – big or small” cannot go together.
He said it was also necessary to build a consensus on the challenge of terrorist ideology being spread from across the border by online radicalisation.
Shah said it cannot be seen as a political ideology.
“If we consider the promotion of online radicalisation as a political problem, then our fight against terrorism will be half-hearted. Let us all commit to ensuring that the effective fight against terrorism should be long-lasting, comprehensive, and sustainable.,” he said.
Shah said India was committed to fighting all forms of global terrorism and work with INTERPOL to provide technical assistance and human resources.
He said it had been observed that in many countries the nodal agency of INTERPOL and the counter-terror agency of the country were different and in such a situation it was difficult for all counter-terrorism agencies of the world to come together to tackle the challenge of terrorism.
Shah urged INTERPOL to consider a permanent mechanism to establish a real-time information exchange line between the counter-terrorism agencies of all member countries.
He said this system would further strengthen the fight against terrorism in the coming days.
Shah said that October 21 was a very important day for the Indian Police and India celebrates this day as Police Commemoration Day.
He said 35,000 policemen had made the supreme sacrifice for securing India’s unity and democracy and Indians pay tribute to these immortal martyrs on this day.
Shah said after the COVID-19 pandemic, organising the General Assembly of INTERPOL in New Delhi was important in itself.
“The world has experienced the human face of the Police during the COVID-19 pandemic and the world has changed the way it looks at the Police,” he said.
Shah said that in the last 100 years, INTERPOL had become a comprehensive and effective forum of 195 countries, which was playing a vital role in cracking down on crimes around the world.
He said India was one of the oldest members of INTERPOL and had been associated with INTERPOL since 1949.
“In today’s world a platform like INTERPOL is very important and vital for cooperation and multilateralism,” Shah said.
He said that the Government of India, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and various Indian Police forces appreciate the meaningful efforts and contributions of INTERPOL for public security, world peace, and stability.
Shah said that the criminal justice system was not a new thing for India.
“Perhaps, first of all, both contemplation and concern on the criminal justice system originated in India. Whenever the state was conceptualised, Police systems would probably have emerged as the first important function of the state and the safety of citizens is the foremost responsibility of any State,” he said. “One can see the deep understanding of jurisprudence and punishment in Indian historical texts and epics. Thousands of years ago in the Ramayan and their writings Vidura, Shukracharya, Chanakya, and Thirukural have accepted the principle of ‘Amicable Justice and Due Punishment.’”
Shah said there was a shloka in Chapter 15 of the Shantiparva of the Mahabharata, which means, “The system of justice is an important part of every effective and successful government system to keep criminals under control. Justice is what ensures good governance in society. If justice is awake during the night, it is then only that citizens and society remain fearless, and a good society is formed.”
He said that in the last 8 years, the Centre under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been continuously taking steps to ensure that Police forces were always ready to face any challenge.
Shah said that the Centre had recently taken many new steps to solve the challenges of the future like the establishment of the National Forensic Science University.
He said that on the occasion of the 75th year of India’s independence, PM Modi had set the goal of a ‘Drugs free India’ for the nation.
Shah said given the emerging trends of global trade of narcotics and challenges such as narco-terror, there was a need for closer cooperation in areas like platforms for the exchange of information and intelligence among all nations, intelligence-based joint operations, regional maritime security cooperation, mutual legal assistance, and effective mechanism to combat money laundering.
He said that the Narcotics Control Bureau of India had achieved very good success in the seizure of narcotics, their destruction, and the conclusion of cases.
Referring to INTERPOL’s ‘Operation Lion-fish’ and India’s ‘Operation Garuda’, Shah said in ‘Operation Lion-fish’ India had achieved great success by making the biggest seizure.
He said more work needs to be done by INTERPOL in establishing a real-time information exchange network and a comprehensive narco database among anti-narcotics agencies of all member countries.
Shah said INTERPOL was going to begin its centenary year celebrations and he has had an opportunity to witness it.
He said that in the last four days, participants at the General Assembly in Delhi had an extensive discussion on the ‘Global Crime Trend Report 2022’ and ‘Interpol Vision 2030’.
“The changes taking place in active policing, metaverse, and cyber threat landscape are also being discussed. In addition, two major resolutions to increase the use of INTERPOL’s I-Familia and the International Child Sexual Abuse Database have also been passed,” Shah said.
He said when INTERPOL was established in 1923, the challenges of crime and policing of that time and today’s methods had huge differences and more changes would come in the coming decades.
Shah said that the mentality of crime never changes, but the means are changing.
He suggested that INTERPOL should prepare a plan for the next 50 years based on its experience and achievements over the last 100 years.
Shah said INTERPOL could also constitute a study group under its auspices, by which detailed research could be done on the challenges of the next 25 and 50 years and their solutions.
“If a report of World Policing 2048 and 2073 is prepared, then global policing will greatly benefit in the coming 50 years. It will also be relevant to review the scheme after every five years,” he said.
Shah expressed confidence that this research would prove to be very useful for the Law Enforcement Agencies of member countries.
He handed over the flag of INTERPOL to Austria and conveyed his best wishes for the conduct of the Vienna General Assembly.
Shah reiterated his commitment from India’s side that India was committed to working with INTERPOL in a collaborative role to combat terrorism in all its forms, such as narco-terror, online radicalisation, organised syndicates, and money laundering.
He said in this context, India was committed to assisting INTERPOL in setting up a dedicated centre or convention and launching a dedicated communication network for counter-terrorism and anti-narcotics agencies around the world.
He appreciated the INTERPOL and CBI for the successful conduct of the General Assembly.
Several dignitaries including the Chairman, INTERPOL and the Director, CBI were also present on the occasion.
