Kozhikode: The Kerala Police have come up with a remedy to fend off criticism that they delay the cases for weeks even after the written petition by the complainants. In the state, at present, there is no system to formally inform the petitioner about what action has been taken on his/her complaint. The state police chief has ordered that as soon as a petitioner 'physically' brings in a petition to the police station, and a first information report (FIR) is registered, an SMS should be sent to the mobile phone of the petitioner, either by the station house officer (SHO) or the station writer.

DGP Loknath Behera directed that the SMS to the petitioner should say “a case in crime number --- is registered under section --- dated --- on the basis of the complaint and the case is being investigated. This message can be sent either in English or Malayalam to the complainant's mobile phone number,” he stated.

While registering the case, it is mandatory for the registering officers to ask for the complainant's mobile number and if he/she does not have a mobile number, the mobile number of his/her near and dear one or relative which he/she can access should be asked for.

Once the inquiry is ordered on the basis of the complaint filed by the petitioner, the same should also be informed as an SMS, stating that “your petition dated --- has been received and we have entrusted --- (name of the officer) to inquire into the petition”.

The DGP has made it clear that these messages should be sent by using official mobile numbers of the SHO or the station writer.

Soon, automated SMS system would be introduced, so that the SMS gets generated automatically. Till the time of implementation of the automated generated SMS system, the messages would be manually sent, he has directed.