India’s former president and late A. P. J Abdul Kalam once said, ‘If a country intends to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key influencing societal members– the father, the mother and the teacher who can make a difference.
‘Our society has been in the grips of bribery and corruption for a while and the Maharashtra state Anti-Corruption Bureau is working diligently towards eradication of these social evils. With thirty threethous and plus hits on their newly conceptualized Facebook page, ACB is gaining more and more popularity day by day and is successful in creating a terror among the corrupt minds. In a bid to check the corruption and to embarrass the accused, the Maharashtra Anti Corruption Bureau has launched a Facebook page where it uploads the pictures of offenders who are caught taking bribes.
The launch of Facebook page has made it easier for the citizens to report about corruption around them by filling up some basic details about the person who is asking for a bribe. “The details of the case, the pictures of the accused, the amount of the bribe taken by the accused, valuables and other documents recovered from him are posted on the Facebook,” said a police officer attached to ACB.
“This process of shaming is detrimental to the image of the arrested accused and it also deters others from accepting bribe,” said another official. The department has so far laid down over 600 traps, arrested over 146 government employees along with their associates and over 130 police personnel. In the same period last year, 1234 traps were laid in which 1009 were arrested.
“With such shaming on the social networking sites the accused would be embarrassed and avoid repeating the offence. In a bid to intensify our action against corrupt people, we intend to extensively use the popular platform of Facebook,” said former DG (ACB) – Pravin Dixit, while launching the page.
Prior to this, ACB had launched its own application which was easily available at android stores. The users had to register themselves and file the case through the application. ‘With the help of the application it has become easier for us to reach the cops. It was a difficult task otherwise to contact the police officials and get our complaints registered’ said a user of the application.
‘Through ACB Maharashtra app. we receive several complaints. We first verify the details provided by the complainant and later contact them to understand their problems. A team of police officials are sent to verify the facts and later as per the orders of the superiors we lay a trap with the help of complainant and arrest the accused,’ said a police officer.
Citizen talks
“The idea of creating a Facebook page and uploading the details along with the photo of the accused is brilliant. It is appreciable and helpful for the people to get their difficulties solved,” says Shreyas Bomkar- employee.
“Earlier for getting your job done at any government office meant spending your money but with this application and facility to upload photos on social media, the number of corruption cases will definitely reduce in numbers, says Santosh Nadkarni, businessman.
ACB Statistics
In the past five years, ACB has improved its detection skills and has adopted the latest technology to nab the culprits. ‘Social media has contributed immensely in connecting police with the common people, since several complaints received are routed through Facebook. In 2014, ACB laid 1245 traps of which they have resolved 1200 cases and arrested the accused.
The same consistency of detecting the crime was maintained in the following year i.e. 2015. As per the recent statistics provided on their website- acbmaharashtra.gov.in from January 1 to July 31 this year, ACB has laid out a total of 602 traps and have arrested the corrupt officials involved. The statistics also show that Pune leads in the number of corruption cases until July 31, followed by Aurangabad on the second spot with 88 cases. Mumbai has so far registered 45 cases.
Anti Corruption Bureau Department Vision
To create a dynamic and result oriented anti corruption system in terms of professionalism, effective implementation of law and efficiency.
Mission
To effectively enforce anti-corruption laws with integrity & impartiality. Strive to achieve the highest standards in the duties we perform, the services we render & the professionalism we display.
Focus Areas
Exercising effective corruption control, effective implementation of laws against corrupt officials. Booking the corrupt elements & thereby preventing heavy loss to the state exchequer. Collecting intelligence with regard to disproportionate assets, misuse of powers i.e. criminal misconduct by corrupt government officials. Preventing & detecting corruption related crime.
– by Mohit Naik
