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Provisions of the new bill:
- The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022 was passed.
- The bill seeks to replace the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920, which authorised the taking of measurements for identification and investigation in criminal matters.
- A key feature of the bill is its widened definition of measurements, which includes iris and retina scans, behavioural attributes, including signatures, handwriting, finger impressions, footprint impressions, palm-print impressions, photographs, and also physical, biological samples “and their analysis.”
- The words “and their analysis” in the definition of measurements imply the possibility of using various sources of information to create profiles. As per the bill, the measurements would be retained in digital or electronic form for 75 years.
- Another key feature of the bill is its widened scope as it applies to the collection of measurements not only from convicted persons but also from persons arrested for any offence punishable by law.
- The severity of the offence has not been mentioned, thereby creating a possibility of collecting measurements from persons arrested for any offence.
- The new bill will allow the police and prison authorities to collect, store and analyse physical and biological samples, including retina and iris scans, of convicts and persons arrested on various charges.
- The new bill is also applicable to the persons arrested under any preventive detention law.
- Under the new bill, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has been the nodal agency to store the physical and biological samples, signatures and handwriting data.
- The bill allows NCRB to preserve the data for at least 75 years. The NCRB has also been empowered to share the records with other law enforcement agencies.
- It also authorises law enforcement agencies to take measurements of convicts and “any other persons” for identification and investigation in criminal matters, on the order of a magistrate.
- Any state government of Union Territory administration may notify an appropriate agency to collect, preserve and share the measurements of a person of interest in their respective jurisdictions.
- The new also penalises individuals if they refuse to allow authorities from taking sufficient measurements and data.
- While consent will taken before taking biological samples, the bill provides for forceful collection of such samples from persons arrested for offences against a woman or a child, or if the offence carries a minimum of seven years imprisonment.
- The Bill permits the collection of identification information about individuals for the investigation of crime.
- The bill expands the kind of information that can be collected, and it also expands the kind of persons whose data may be collected, as it includes convicts and arrested persons for any offence.
- It also allows the magistrate to order collection of information from any person, to aide in investigations.
- The data to be collected can include biometrics data like finger prints, palm prints, foot prints, iris and retina scan, physical and biological samples like blood, semen, saliva, etc including DNA samples, and behavioural attributes like signature, handwriting, voice samples etc.
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