MHA ads 5 lakh names to nat’l sex offenders registry

MHA ads 5 lakh names to nat’l sex offenders registry

1. The Ministry of Home Affairs has added the names of over 5 lakh sex offenders to the National registry of Sex Offenders. The registry contains name, address, photograph and fingerprint details offenders convicted under charges of rape, gang rape, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and eve teasing. It will be accessible only to law enforcement agencies. It will facilitate them to track and investigate cases of sexual offences.
2. The National Registry of Sex Offenders is maintained by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). NCRB was set-up in 1986 to function as a repository of information on crime and criminals.
3. The records in the registry are sourced from the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS). CCTNS is a programme of Ministry of Home Affairs. It seeks to a) deliver various web based police related services to citizens, b) facilitate a pan-India search of crime and criminal records of individuals through a national database, c) generate crime and criminal reports at the state and central level to inform policy interventions d) computerise police processes and e) establish a basic platform for an Inter-operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS).
4. India is among few countries like the USA, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and Trinidad & Tobago, that maintains a sex offenders list. However, the United States is the only country where the sex offender registry is available to the public.