Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022

The Lok Sabha has passed the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022 by voice vote. The Bill seeks to repeal the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920.

• In India till now the identification of the criminals and storage of data regarding their personal information was guided by the Identification of the Prisoners Act, 1920.
• In March 2003, the expert committee on Reforms of the criminal justice system recommended amending the 1920 Act.
• This was recommended to empower the magistrate to authorise the collection of data such as blood samples for DNA, hair, saliva and semen.
• The Criminal procedure (identification) bill was proposed in the Parliament on 28 March 2022.
• This bill allows collection, storage and analysis of physical and biological samples, including retina and iris scan of the convicted, arrested and detained

• The criminal justice system in India has three important players, namely, the police, the prosecution, and the judiciary. 
• The primary duty of police is to protect the life, liberty and property of the citizens.
• It protects the rights that criminal justice has constituted assigning important responsibilities to the police.
• Their main duty is investigation of offences and maintenance of law. 
• Investigation, here, involves the collection of all the evidences by a police officer or by any person authorized by the Magistrate on this behalf. 
• Investigation is a primary procedure and is the preliminary stage that is performed by them usually after the First Information Report (FIR) of the commission of a crime.

• The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022 aims to improve the conviction rate in the country, protect human rights of law-abiding citizens and send a strong message in the society.
• The Bill expands:
• Measurement: the type of data that may be collected
• Source: Persons from whom such data may be Collected
• Empowerment: The authority that may authorise such collection
• It also provides for the data to be stored in a central database.  
• Under both the 1920 Act and the 2022 Bill, resistance or refusal to give data will be considered an offence of obstructing a public servant from doing his duty.  
• Central agency for record maintaining: The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) will be the central agency to maintain the records.  It will share the data with law enforcement agencies.
  • Further, states/UTs may notify agencies to collect, preserve, and share data in their respective jurisdictions.

• Directions by Magistrate: It empowers a Magistrate to direct any person to give vital details, which till now was reserved for convicts and those involved in heinous crimes.
• Empowerment to police personnel: It empowers police or prison officers up to the rank of a Head Constable to take details of any person who resists or refuses to do so.

• Bill may violate the Right to privacy as well as equality:
  • The information specified under the Bill forms part of the personal data of individuals and is thus protected under the right to privacy of individuals.  The right to privacy has been recognised as a fundamental right by the Supreme Court (2017).
  • Article 14, 15, 19 and 21 can be violated.
• Data protection and collection:
  • the data can be collected not just from convicted persons but also from persons arrested for any offence and from any other person to aid an investigation;
  • the data collected does not need to have any relationship with evidence required for the case;
  • the data is stored in a central database which can be accessed widely and not just in the case file;
  • the data is stored for 75 years (effectively, for life); and
  • Safeguards have been diluted by lowering the level of the official authorised to collect the data.
• Possible misuses of the law:
  • By person whose data may be collected- include persons convicted or arrested for any offence. The person convicted for minor accident will also have to take order from the magistrate for data collection and investigation.
  • By person who gives order for data to be collected- Under the 1920 Act, a Magistrate may order data to be collected in order to aid the investigation of an offence. 
  • The Law Commission (1980) remarked that the 1920 Act did not require the Magistrate to give reasons for his order. It observed that the ambit of the law was very wide (“any person” arrested in connection with “any investigation”), and refusal to obey t recommended that the provision be amended to require the Magistrate to record reasons for giving the order.
  • What data may be collected- The Bill widens the ambit of data to be collected to include biometrics (finger prints, palm prints, foot prints, iris and retina scan), physical and biological samples (not defined but could include blood, semen, saliva, etc.), and behavioural attributes (signature, handwriting, and could include voice samples).
  • This can increase the burden of taking irrelevant information and sample of an individual for case associated to him.

In India, reform for criminal Identification was a forward step. With the increasing crime rate and broader aspects coming into picture, the scope of laws and data collection should also be widened.

Introducing modern technologies in the conviction and investigation procedures will make the system more stringent for criminals and the cases can be resolved easier.

Hence introduction of such laws will make our judicial system strong and empowered but on the other hand the data privacy and violation of fundamental rights will remain an issue among these laws. The negative aspects of the law should be taken into consideration as ‘Fair justice is more important than faster justice’.