The Hindu

Mangalore, Jun 5: The First Information Report (FIR) helpdesk set up at the office of the Superintendent of Police here on Tuesday received its first complaint on Thursday from B Keshava, a peon at the Primary Health Centre at Neriya village in Belthangady.

The helpdesk was set up under instructions from Superintendent of Police A S Rao. It was aimed at helping those victims of crime who could not get the FIR registered in police stations.

Keshava’s grouse was that the Belthangady police were not investigating his complaint about the threat calls he was receiving from an overseas telephone number.

Follow-up

Rao would now be asking the Belthangady police to explain why Keshava’s complaint was not registered. They would also have to send updates on the progress of investigation, sources said.

Rao told The Hindu on Thursday that although the helpdesk had been set up to help people in registering FIRs, its scope could be much wider.

Scope

“Through the helpdesk, people can bring dereliction of duty by various officials to our notice,” he said.

“It is very tough for a common man to get an FIR registered without some influence,” he said and assured that the officer in charge of the helpdesk would register complaints without asking questions. The official will note down all cognisable offences under the Indian Penal Code and forward it to Rao, who will attest it and forward it to the police station concerned to register the FIR immediately.

“I will follow up such cases and the investigating officer will have to send me regular updates,”  Rao said. Expressing fear that there might be a deluge of complaints at the helpdesk, he said “This is a problem we are expecting in the days to come. We hope that we will not have to deal with frivolous matters.”