THE new trend in Bangladesh right now is to go digital. Apparently, the Bangladesh Police has also been bitten by the digital bug, and they are offering a limited but effective online system for filing a GD or General Diary.
To file a GD, you will usually need to locate the Police Station of the area where the crime has taken place and visit it. Afterwards, you fill out the application in details and hand it over to the Duty Officer at the Police Station. The application needs to be addressed to the Officer-in-Charge of the police station and it must provide certain details. After receiving the application the Duty Officer will put it down in a register and issue a number. This is the GD serial number for the purpose of all future references. This sometime might feel like a bit frustrating.
To ease the process and be more citizen-friendly, the Bangladesh Police has started an online GD filing service. Though it has very limited functionality but it is improving fast. The service is called CHR or Citizen Help Request and is currently fully operational in Dhaka City. Not all types of complaints can be filed at present, most serious offences are required to be filed in person at the appropriate station. All non-serious offences and crimes can be filed completely online through this system. The criteria for non-serious complaints include:
1. Information on Eve Teasing
2. Information on Snatching
3. Information about loss/theft of certificate, ID and documents
4. Information about Night Guard, Guard, Servant, Caretaker
5. Information about new/old tenants
6. Expatriate Problems/Complains
The procedure is fairly simple. One should go to the website and fill out the form. The address is "https://chr.police.gov.bd/." It is only a one-page document, typed in simple English and can be filled out within minutes. After that, one will be provided with a GD serial number. One week later, that serial number is to be taken to the appropriate station to pick up the official copy of the complaint. The service focuses mostly on the non-serious ones. The reason for this is that serious crimes or offences require much more in-depth legal and legislative paperwork and procedure to process and file. Secondly, you need to go to the station to pick up your official GD copy (using the GD serial number provided at the site after submitting the form). Since you have to go to the station anyway, it is actually faster to avoid the online method and visit the station yourself. On the whole, the Citizen Help Request or CHR this is a wonderful initiative on the part of DMP or Dhaka Metropolitan Police and it is definitely a step in the right direction.
Samanta Shanaz Nowmi
East West University
[email protected]
