Inter-Operable Criminal Justice System For UPSC IAS Exam

Inter-Operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) is a national platform for enabling the integration of the main IT system used for the delivery of Criminal Justice in the country by five pillars.
The ICJS project aims to connect the five pillars of the system which are:
- e-police,
- e-Prisons for prisons,
- e-Courts for courts,
- e-Forensics for forensic labs, and
- e-Prosecution for public prosecutors.
Earlier, the main pillars of ICJS were developed independently in form of the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and System (CCTNS).
It seeks to enable the seamless transfer of data and information among different pillars of the criminal justice system, like courts, police, jails and forensic science laboratories, from one platform.
This system would be made available through a dedicated and secure cloud-based infrastructure with high-speed connectivity.
National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) will be responsible for the implementation of the project in association with the National Informatics Center (NIC).
- The project will be implemented in collaboration with the States and Union Territories.
Phases:
- Phase-I: individual IT systems implemented and stabilized; the search of records enabled;
  Phase II: the system is built on the ‘one data one entry’ principle for seamless data transfer

What is the Significance of the Inter-Operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS)?

This system connects more than 16,000 police stations across the country.
It has a database of 28.98 crore police records that can only be accessed by law enforcement agencies and the judiciary.
With the aid of the ICJS platform, the metadata of FIR and charge sheet can be accessed by all the High Courts and subordinate courts.
Documents like FIR, case diaries and charge sheets are uploaded by police in PDF format for utilization by the courts.

17 April 2023
- The Ministry of Home Affairs in India has added a new feature to its e-prosecution portal that aims to ensure the timely disposal of criminal cases and fix the accountability of government lawyers.