Lack of priority to SOS No '100' by telcos a serious issue: HC

The Delhi High Court today termed as "serious" police's claim that calls to emergency telephone number 100 often go unanswered as these do not reach them due to lack of bandwidth and priority from telcos, including MTNL, and sought the Centre's response.
Delhi Police told a bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Ashutosh Kumar that if calls to 100 are heard to be ringing it need not mean police were not attending to them as often it has not even reached them due to lack of dedicated bandwidth for the emergency number and lack of priority to it as it is a free service.

Noting it was a "serious matter", the court issued notice to the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MoCIT) asking it to be represented so that appropriate orders can be passed on this issue.
"We are told that 100 number for reaching police is not a dedicated line for police nor does it have priority. This is a serious matter. We are told it is due to insufficient and dedicated bandwidth given to the number by MTNL and other telecom service providers," the court noted.
The court observed that this issue can be controlled by giving dedicated bandwidth to the police which can be worked out with MTNL and other telecom service providers (TSPs).

It also noted that the Centre was yet to take action on Delhi Police' request to it for dedicated bandwidth and location-based services and details from TSPs.

The issue came to light when the court was informed about the response times of police, ranging from two to 37 minutes, to distress calls made to the police control room (PCR).
Senior advocate Chetan Sharma and advocate Shailendra Babbar, appearing for the police, said the problem of unanswered calls occurred during peak hours and because priority is not give to 100 by TSPs as it is a free service.
The bench termed it as "startling" and said crime does not wait for peak and non-peak hours.

Police told the court that it carried out a study from
June 1 to June 30 regarding response times to distress calls received during 24 hours of the day and found that in 78.05 per cent of cases the response time was between two to five minutes.
In 19.8 per cent of the calls, response time was 5-10 minutes and in the rest approximately two per cent, 10-37 minutes, police told the court.
Praising the effort made by Delhi Police, the court directed the agency to write to the police commissioners of the major cities of the world regarding their response times and to inform the bench on the next date of hearing on August 24.

During the hearing, the court was also told by police that it proposes to reduce the beat area of PCR vans to one square kilometre and induct more vehicles to increase its response time.
It said it has 1,000 vehicles in its fleet, apart from 140 PCR bikes for areas where four-wheelers cannot enter.
It also told the court that it required real time location details from TSPs regarding their customers so that response time can be improved. Police said that TSPs had to provide location details under the licence conditions.
On the issue of forensic lab vans, while Delhi Police said it does not have any and was not aware of the presence of any such service in the national capital, the AAP government said it has two such vehicles which visit crime scenes everyday.

The Delhi government said it was in the process of acquiring two more such vans and that there was a dedicated number to call for the vans and this was informed to all police stations.
On the aspect of mobile crime investigation teams, the court was informed by Delhi Police that it has 11 such teams in Delhi and in which the sub-inspectors have been trained at the Central Detective Training Schools, while others have been trained in fingerprint lifting, its analysis and photography.
Police also said that these teams are also provided with all the necessary equipment and materials.

To this, the court remarked that if this was the true state of affairs, "then level of investigation should see a quantum jump" and added that in the past it has seen that criminal investigation was not up to the mark.
It expressed hope that future judges will be provided the scientific evidence so that they do not have to rely on oral statements to decide cases.
On the issue of presence of forensic pathologists in all hospitals run by the Centre and the Delhi government, the court was informed that forensic pathologists were present in all hospitals under the central government.

The Delhi government said it will inform the court on the next date on whether forensic pathologists are available in hospitals run by them.