Criminal Procedure bill will not make Indians safer 

News: Recently, the government has introduced the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill in the Lok Sabha. It seeks to replace the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920 which regulates how the police can gather data from convicted or suspected criminals.

The bill has generated a lot of controversy.

What are the issues with the bill? 

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What has been proposed in the bill? 

It expands the type of data collected by the police from basic fingerprint and footprint impressions to a range of other samples, including iris and retina scans, behavioural attributes, and “biological samples”.  

It mandates the National Crime Records Bureau to collect that data and keep it for 75 years.  

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What is the rationale behind the bill? 

The government has asserted that the present prisoner identification law is a century old law. It is inadequate for the present day. The technological and scientific advancements have transformed crime and law enforcement since 1920.  

What are the issues in particular which make this bill disturbing?  

It will give the police free hand to collect personal data of anyone, say, detained protestors. It can be used against them at a later date.  

The national data protection legislation has not been enacted for years. For example, the Justice Srikrishna Commission (2018) released its report in 2018. The first Personal Data Protection Bill (PDPB) that was drafted based on it has a number of weaknesses. It allowed the Centre to exempt any of its agencies from the provisions supposed to protect privacy in the name of security. The proposed “Data Protection Authority” could not act as an independent regulator”.  

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Way Forward 

The Parliament may refer the Bill to a standing committee. Efforts should be made to increase the accountability framework in the Bill. 

India already has the Crime and Criminal Tracking Networks and System (CCTNS) which has played a significant role in modernising Indian policing.  

Source: The post is based on an article “Criminal procedure bill will not make Indians safer” published in the Indian Express on 5th Apr 22.