The Parliament on Wednesday, April 6, passed the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill that seeks to allow investigators to collect certain identifiable information of convicts and other persons for purposes of identification and investigation in criminal matters. The Rajya Sabha passed the Bill by a voice vote after Home Minister Amit Shah allayed concerns raised by the opposition which claimed that the draft law was draconian. The motions to sent the Bill to a select committee were denied.
The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022 replaces the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920. Amit Shah said the Bill has been brought in to ensure that police and investigators remain two steps ahead of criminals. He said the biometric data of political detainees will not be collected if they have been detained during participation in any agitation.
“I want to assure that this is not going to violate privacy of anyone,” Shah said. He said that the data collected will remain completely secure and the government will make sure there are no loopholes in the bill that can lead to the violation of privacy and human rights.
The Bill gives the police legal sanction to take physical and biological samples of convicts as well as accused persons. Defined as “measurements,” in the Bill, the samples include finger impressions, palm-print and footprint impressions, photographs, iris and retina scan, physical, biological samples and their analysis, and behavioural attributes including signatures and handwriting. The Bill also provides for any examination under Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) sections 53 or 53A, pertaining to the medical examination of an arrested person.
Many opposition parties including the Congress, Shiv Sena, DMK, Trinamool Congress, AAP, AIMIM and others opposed the Bill. NCP said that it is not against the Bill, but that there are concerns over some provisions of the Bill
Experts say that the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, which widens the ambit of data collection to include iris and retina scans, biological samples and more, undermines the privacy of ordinary citizens. The Bill states that anyone who has been convicted of a punishable offence, ordered to give security for good behaviour or maintaining peace, arrested in connection with a law under a punishable offence, or detained under any preventive detention law shall, if so required, allow his ‘measurement’ to be taken by a police officer.