Indian police failed to act on eight years of complaints after forgetting computer password

Police in India failed to act on hundreds of corruption complaints over an eight-year period because they did not know a computer password.

Delhi officers could not operate a portal holding more than 600 complaints - a lapse that has gone undetected since 2006. The complaints came from India's anti-corruption agency, called the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).



But two senior police officers have now been trained in the system, and can access the 667 cases that have piled up since the portal launched. One officer said the oversight was "a technical problem", and complaints are now being addressed.

The CVC collates complaints against government officials and directs law enforcement to investigate them. Despite the confusion, police in Delhi "remain committed to public grievances", a senior officer said.