- The Centre on Monday brought the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill in the Lok Sabha. There is strong protests by the Opposition parties on the subject. The bill has been labelled as “draconian” and infringes upon the right to privacy termed as “illegal” and said it violated Article 20(3) of the Constitution, which says: “No person accused of an offence shall be compelled to be a witness against himself”.
- The bill also seeks to be made applicable to persons detained under any preventive detention law. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) will be the repository of all physical and biological samples and the data can be preserved for at least 75 years. This Bill will repeal the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920, whose scope was limited to allowing taking of fingerprints and footprint impressions of a limited category of convicted and non-convicted persons and photos, and only on the orders of a magistrate.
- The proposed law aims to authorise the police to take measurements of convicts and other persons for the purposes of their identifications and investigations in criminal matters to preserve records.
The current Identification of Prisoners Act was formed in 1920. It's been 102 yrs now. The Act provided for collection of only fingerprints & footprints. The world has undergone technological & scientific changes, crime and its trend has increased: MoS MHA Ajay Mishra Teni (1/2) pic.twitter.com/RGrCItSfvk
— ANI (@ANI) March 28, 2022
The difference between the Old and New
- Measurements of all convicts: The new law will allow the police to take measurements of all convicts and other detained persons to preserve records for the purpose of their identification.
- Nature of measurements: The bill will allow the police to take iris and retina scan, photographs, finger-impressions, palm-print impressions, footprint impressions, physical, biological samples and their analysis. It will also allow the police to collect their behavioural attributes including signatures and handwriting or any other examination referred under section 53 or section 53A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. As per the Bill, any person convicted, arrested or held under any preventive detention law will be required to provide “measurements” to a police officer or a prison official.
- Who is authorised to take measurements?: The law states that officers in charge of police stations or those not below head constable rank to take the “measurements” — records of these measurements shall be retained for 75 years from the date of collection.
- Body to preserve data: The new bill empowers the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) to collect, store and preserve the record of measurements, for sharing, dissemination, destruction, and disposal of records.
- Destruction of person discharged or acquitted:The law also says that the records are to be destroyed in the case of any person who has not been previously convicted of an offence punishable under any law with imprisonment for any term, and had his/her measurements taken according to the provisions of this Act, is released without trial or discharged or acquitted by the court, after exhausting all legal remedies.
The legal system cannot operate in vacuum nor can it operate with obsolete laws with coming of technology. For eg. The Crime Identification Technology Act, 1998 of United States provide for
(1) upgrade criminal history and criminal justice record systems, including systems operated by law enforcement agencies and courts;
(2) improve criminal justice identification;
(3) promote compatibility and integration of national, State, and local systems for—
(A) criminal justice purposes;
(B) firearms eligibility determinations;
(C) identification of all individuals who have been convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term
exceeding 1 year
(D) identification of sexual offenders;
(E) identification of domestic violence offenders; and
(F) background checks for other authorized purposes unrelated to criminal justice; and
(4) capture information for statistical and research purposes to improve the administration of criminal justice.
The Central Finger Print Bureau is an apex body in the country which coordinates, guides, monitors, and provides technical support to the State Finger Print Bureaux, as well as investigation agencies and international organizations like INTERPOL in all matters related to Finger Print Science. On the recommendation of the National Police Commission in the year 1986,
CFPB fingerprint database was automated- by gradually digitizing the existing manual records – with the installation of the country’s first Automated Fingerprint Identification System in 1992 at NCRB HQ at New Delhi.
