The website of Patna police where one can lodge an online complaint

Be relaxed, your identity will be safe.

This message on the Patna police website, www.patnapolice.bih.nic.in, says it all. Anyone can lodge a complaint or share information with the police even sitting at home.

An app, developed by software engineer Rajan Singh, on the website will take a visitor to www.onlineapp.bih.nic.in/ PP_FIR/Complaint.aspx where s/he can lodge a complaint. If someone wants to share confidential information — from vital movement of criminals to teasing on the streets — the website will lead to www.onlineapp.bih. nic.in/PP_FIR/Share_Info.aspx.

Following the launch, senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manu Maharaj said the complainant would get a unique user ID and password soon after the complaint is sent. All the complaints received online would be monitored by personnel manning the control room at the SSP’s office and subsequently forwarded to the station house officers (SHOs) concerned.

Manu said all the SHOs had already been given user IDs and computers with Internet connection. They are connected with the control room at the SSP’s office. “But it does not mean that complaints would not be received at the police station,” he clarified.

Sources said five complaints were registered within eight hours of its launch and that too without publicity. “The website is so popular that over 550 visits were recorded it soon after the app was uploaded,” he said.

The SSP said the website would be helpful for girls and elderly citizens, who do not want to visit the police station. “The girls can lodge their complaints online about eve-teasing and sexual harassments. Even their identities would not be disclosed,” he added.

M. Haque of Ganga Devi Mahila College, which falls under the jurisdiction of Kadamkuan police station, lodged a complaint about non-arrival of the police at the examination centre. The matter was immediately referred to the police station concerned for appropriate action.