Your website is useless, obsolete, HC tells Delhi Police

Describing it as “useless” and “obsolete,” the Delhi High Court on Wednesday criticised the Delhi Police website and said it failed to provide helpful information to users, especially those seeking assistance over missing children.

“The Delhi Police website is completely useless. It is obsolete and does not serve any purpose. Users have difficulty retrieving desired information, especially those who surf its service ‘Zipnet’ for information regarding missing children,” said a bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and S P Garg on Wednesday.

Justice Bhat said he had tried to surf the website and was “disappointed” with its user-interface. “The website looks very complicated. You click on one link and several random pages get opened. You then need to track your desired webpage out of these different pages. I think its very difficult to get what you are looking for,” said Justice Bhat.

The court was hearing a petition relating to Apna Ghar, a children’s home. After the CWC, without making the efforts to trace the parents, had declared a child as abandoned and sent him to ‘Apna Ghar’, his father had moved the court. Subsequent inquiries disclosed the deplorable condition in which the 30-odd children were housed at the home.

Justice Bhat said a more interactive ‘Zipnet’ — designed to share crime and criminals’ information in real-time — could help people get information from the website and act accordingly. “It does not even give complete information about missing children,” said the court.

A senior police officer, acquainted with the working of the website was called upon by the court. The officer helped the court scan the website and reposed confidence in the efficacy of the website. The officer further apprised the court that while information relating to missing children was available on the website, data regarding those found was with the Women and Child Development department On Wednesday, the court asked the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights to inspect all children homes in Delhi and prepare a status report in consultation with the Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA). It also asked the DLSA to vet all orders passed by the six CWCs in the city and submit a report on their correctness. The court will now hear the matter on June 1.

SOURCE: INDIAN EXPRESS.COM