Rajasthan's mandatory FIR policy provided justice to weaker sections, says outgoing police chief

Rajasthan: Rajasthan's new Director General of Police (DGP) Umesh Mishra on Thursday said he would focus on checking economic and cyber offences, which he referred to as "emerging challenges".

Mishra took over from ML Lather, who retired from service on Thursday.

A 1989-batch Indian Police Service officer, Mishra said Rajasthan had done a lot of work to reduce the time taken in investigating cases and added that he wanted to raise the level of functioning of police stations to improve policing.

"The noose around professional criminals and organised crime will be tightened. Another big challenge is economic offences. Many cases of cyber fraud and economic offences have come (to the police's notice). The Kaman area in Bharatpur district is notorious for this," he told reporters.

Speaking on how he planned to improve the functioning of police stations, Mishra said, "Complainants should be heard, prompt action should be taken and investigation should be fair. Core policing is done at the police station level. Once it is improved, policing in the entire state is improved."

He added that he would prioritise the welfare of police personnel as DGP.

Senior Police Headquarters officers were present during a ceremony at the DGP chamber as Mishra took charge.

Earlier in the day, Lather was accorded a farewell at Rajasthan Police Academy where he said the state government's policy of mandatory FIR registration might have increased the number of registered cases but had provided justice to the weaker sections of society.

The outgoing DGP also congratulated the police personnel for reducing case pendency and the time taken to conduct investigations.

Highlighting Lather's achievements during his career, Additional DGP Rajiv Sharma described his service as inspirational. (PTI)