<\/p>\n
News:<\/span><\/b> Recently, The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022 received the President\u2019s assent. The act seeks to repeal the Identification of Prisoners Act (IPA) 1920, whose scope was limited in nature with respect to recording measurements and whose measurements were made.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The proposed <\/span>scope of \u2018measurements\u2019<\/span><\/b> already exists in other statutes like CrPC. <\/span><\/p>\n The Act explicitly merges the scope of \u2018measurements\u2019 in the <\/span>IPA<\/span><\/b> and the <\/span>CrPC<\/span><\/b>. For example, The CrPC provides for \u2018<\/span>examination\u2019<\/span><\/b> of blood, semen, swabs, sputum and sweat, hair samples etc. using <\/span>modern<\/span><\/b> scientific<\/span><\/b> techniques<\/span><\/b> including DNA profiling etc,\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The IPA already includes some provisions related to who is subjected to measurement. For example, it includes a person who has given security for <\/span>good behaviour<\/span><\/b> or <\/span>maintaining peace<\/span><\/b>, etc.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A <\/span>magistrate<\/span><\/b> is already empowered to direct any person (including an accused person) to give a signature or handwriting for <\/span>investigation<\/span><\/b> or <\/span>proceedings<\/span><\/b> under Section 311A of the CrPC.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The SC of India in\u202fthe <\/span>State of Bombay vs Kathi Kalu (1961)<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u202fhas held that taking specimens of handwriting, signature, thumb impressions, finger, palm or foot print etc. do not violate the <\/span>right against self-incrimination<\/span><\/b> under Articles 20(3) of the Constitution. These samples by themselves do not convey information.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Non-cognisable <\/span><\/b>and most of <\/span>simple cognisable offence<\/span><\/b> like a chakka-jam (punishable with simple imprisonment up to only one month or fine) do not require measurement of biological samples to facilitate investigation. Only <\/span>physical measurements<\/span><\/b> would be sufficient to record identity.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n By expanding the scope of measurements, an individuals\u2019 privacy is not going to be harmed.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Act will not harass <\/span>juveniles<\/span><\/b>. As per the provisions of <\/span>the (Special Act) Juvenile Justice Act, 201<\/span><\/b>3, the delinquent juveniles are produced before the <\/span>Juvenile Justice Board.<\/span><\/b> The FIR is registered only in heinous offence and the juvenile is arrested. In addition, records of conviction are destroyed in accordance to Act.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Act does not mandate the <\/span>compulsory recording<\/span><\/b> of all measurements for all types of offences. The measurements shall be taken \u2018if so required\u2019 and as may be prescribed by governments.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The purpose is to help the enforcement agencies in the prevention and the detection of crime.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The right of an individual will have to be considered in the background of the interests of society.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Supreme Court in the<\/span> Selvi vs State of Karnataka<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u202f(2010)<\/span><\/b> has held that the narcoanalysis, polygraphy and brain fingerprinting are <\/span>testimonial compulsions <\/span><\/b>(if conducted without consent)<\/em>. <\/span><\/p>\n They are prohibited under Article 20(3) of the Constitution<\/strong>. These tests do not fall under the scope of expression \u201csuch other tests\u201d in Explanation of <\/span>Section 53<\/span><\/b> of the CrPC. The Court also laid down certain guidelines for these tests.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Act does not lay down any <\/span>specific scientific tests<\/span><\/b> for the analysis of biological samples. Therefore measurements would not automatically violate any constitutional provision.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It would have been prudent to add a provision in the Act for juveniles for clarity and allay any doubts.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The <\/span>period of storage of measurements<\/span><\/b> of adults should be reduced by <\/span>10 years<\/span><\/b>. In fact, the probability of committing a crime by any person after the age of 80 years is negligible.\u202fFor example, the NCRB data shows that the number of arrested persons over 60 years of age is less than 1.5%.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Source<\/strong>: The post is based on an article \u201cUnfounded apprehensions about this act<\/strong>\u201d published in The Hindu<\/strong> on 21<\/strong><\/span>st<\/strong> April 2022<\/strong>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" News: Recently, The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022 received the President\u2019s assent. The act seeks to repeal the Identification of Prisoners Act (IPA) 1920, whose scope was limited in nature with respect to recording measurements and whose measurements were made.\u00a0 Why are various issues raised against the act incorrect?\u00a0 The proposed scope of \u2018measurements\u2019 already… Continue reading Unfounded apprehensions about this Act\u202f\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10328,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,10498],"class_list":["post-180531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704780920},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10328"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180531\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Why are various issues raised against the act incorrect?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n
What are the exceptions to the measurement?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n
Way Forward<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n