New Delhi: Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla on Tuesday emphasised the need to impart training on Letter Rogatory (LRs) and Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLATs) to personnel in the law enforcement agencies.
“Union Home Ministry has designed a new on-line portal on MLAT and LR requests which can be utilised for the purpose and assured further assistance, if needed,” said Bhalla while inaugurating the Interpol Liaison Officers Workshop organised by CBI in New Delhi on the subject “LRs/MLAT and Extradition Matter.”
Bhalla also offered all assistance in this regard including organising workshops and conferences in the States. The participants including Interpol Liaison Officers (ILOs) from States, Union Territories, other Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) & officers from Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) attended the workshop.
Bhalla further stressed that the request from other countries for legal assistance should also be treated on priority as part of reciprocity. He invited feed-back and practical suggestions towards improving the efficacy of international cooperation channels for assistance in criminal matters.
It was underlined that LEAs should make use of informal channels of police cooperation for seeking and sharing information on the 24X7 platform of Interpol through CBI as National Central Bureau (NCB) in India. The workshop also focussed on utilising Interpol Notices and drafting requests focusing on crime.
The one day workshop deliberated on the subject “Presentation on Guidelines of MLA/LRs & Procedural aspects of drafting LRs/MLA requests; Presentation on new MLA/LR portal, Presentation on extradition guidelines & procedural aspect of drafting extradition requests; Informal Cooperation through Interpol and points to be kept in mind while making request for Interpol Matters”.
