Character Certificate (Police) in Sikkim

Who issues a character certificate in Sikkim?

Character and antecedent verification in Sikkim is a police function, and Sikkim Police says so in its own Citizens' Charter rather than leaving applicants to guess. Two wings of the force handle it, and they handle different things:

• The Special Branch; "responsible for verification of Character and antecedents for issue of Certificate of Identification and any other such verification referred to it by other agencies, i.e. Passport, arms, service, societies, NGOs, etc.", per the Citizens' Charter. Its published telephone number is 03592-231345. The Special Branch is headed by an officer of the rank of Additional Director General of Police, assisted by an IG, SSP or SP.
• The Crime Branch, which "undertakes Character Antecedents. Verification of all State Government Employees. It also undertakes CA verification of employees of Private companies operating in Sikkim as and when required."

That split is the most useful thing an applicant in Sikkim can know. If your verification is tied to a Certificate of Identification, a passport, an arms licence, a society or an NGO, the Special Branch is the wing concerned. If it is tied to employment, state government service, or a private company operating in Sikkim, the Crime Branch is.

Sikkim Police publishes its Citizens' Charter with the stated aim of making police personnel "more responsible and answerable to the people they serve", and the verification paragraphs above are part of that charter. Treat them as the authoritative description of who does what.

Alongside the offices, Sikkim Police links a CCTNS citizen portal at citizen.sikkimpolice.nic.in from its Citizen Services section. The portal runs the National Crime Records Bureau's Core Application Software version 4.5 and offers citizen registration ("Create Citizen Login"), login in English or Hindi, a forgotten-password route and downloadable offline forms. The NCRB helpdesk behind that software is 1800119001 toll free.

Who can and who cannot apply?

You can approach Sikkim Police for character and antecedent verification if you reside in Sikkim and can name the address to be verified. There is no income limit, no caste criterion and no age slab, this is a records and enquiry process, not a welfare entitlement.

You cannot obtain a Sikkim verification covering an address outside the state. Sikkim Police reports only on the period and area within its own jurisdiction; a previous address in West Bengal or elsewhere has to be verified by that state's police. Declare it on your application anyway, because an undeclared earlier address surfaces during enquiry and costs more time than it saves.

You are also not eligible for a clean report while an FIR or criminal case is pending against you. Antecedent verification records what the register holds.

Note one Sikkim-specific point of confusion: the state's Certificate of Identification is an identity document, not a character certificate. The Citizens' Charter lists character and antecedent verification as something done for the issue of the COI. If someone has asked you for a COI, that is a separate application to the revenue and district authorities; if they have asked for police verification supporting one, the Special Branch is your office.

What documents are required?

Sikkim Police does not publish a consolidated document checklist online for this verification. The practical list every verifying officer works from is:

• A photo identity document in your own name — Aadhaar, voter ID, PAN, or the Certificate of Identification.
• Proof of the address to be verified: ration card, electricity bill, rent agreement or a land document. The enquiry turns on this.
• Two passport-size photographs.
• The referral or requirement letter from the agency asking for the verification. Because the Citizens' Charter frames Special Branch verification as work "referred to it by other agencies", a letter naming the requirement; passport, arms licence, service, society, NGO; routes the file correctly from the start.

Carry originals along with photocopies. Producing something physical that ties you to the declared address on the first visit is the single largest time-saver in the whole process.

How to get character and antecedent verification in Sikkim

1. Identify the correct wing first. Employment verification, whether state government service or a private company operating in Sikkim, goes to the Crime Branch. Certificate of Identification, passport, arms, societies and NGO verification goes to the Special Branch on 03592-231345. Approaching the wrong wing is the commonest wasted trip.
2. Get the referral letter from the agency, employer or authority that wants the verification, so the police office knows what is being asked and for what purpose.
3. Register on the CCTNS citizen portal at citizen.sikkimpolice.nic.in if you want to use the online route, and check its Download Offline Forms section for the current form rather than a copy someone forwarded you.
4. Submit the application in person at the concerned wing or your district police office, with the identity document, address proof, photographs and referral letter. Take an acknowledgement bearing a reference number.
5. Stay available for the enquiry at the address you declared, on a phone number you actually answer. Sikkim's districts are small and the enquiry is direct; being present when the officer calls is usually the difference between days and weeks.
6. Collect the verification report or certificate from the office that accepted your application.

How do you follow up on a Sikkim application?

Quote the reference number on your acknowledgement to the office that accepted the file. For Special Branch matters, the published number is 03592-231345. Sikkim Police's website also carries a Contact Us section and a Citizen Feedback route, and the CCTNS portal behind citizen.sikkimpolice.nic.in is backed by the NCRB helpdesk on 1800119001 toll free for software-side problems.

Because Sikkim publishes no service level for this verification, do not treat silence as a fault in the first fortnight. Do treat a file with no movement after a month as worth a written follow-up to the Superintendent of Police concerned.

Why do verifications get delayed in Sikkim?

• The application went to the wrong wing: Crime Branch work sent to the Special Branch or the reverse.
• No referral letter accompanied the application, so the purpose of the verification was unclear.
• The applicant was not found at the declared address when the enquiry was made.
• Name or parentage on the form does not match the identity document produced.
• A previous address inside Sikkim was left off the form and surfaced during enquiry.
• An FIR or criminal case is pending, which the report must then record.

What does it cost, and what about agents?

Sikkim Police does not publish a fee for character and antecedent verification on its website. The safe rule is therefore absolute: pay only what a printed government receipt shows, and take that receipt every time. If no receipt can be issued, no payment is owed. No officer in the Special Branch, the Crime Branch or a district police office is entitled to a rupee beyond a notified charge.

Agents offering a Sikkim character certificate "quickly" for a few thousand rupees are selling a queue position that does not exist. The file still reaches the same wing and the same verifying officer, and the enquiry at your address still has to happen. Given that the whole process rests on documents you already hold and a letter your employer or agency writes, there is very little an agent can do here that you cannot.

If money is demanded on the side, or if the verification has simply not started, escalate to the Superintendent of Police concerned and use the Citizen Feedback route on police.sikkim.gov.in. Keep your acknowledgement, it is the only proof of when you applied.