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What the article is about?
- Talks about the recently introduced Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022 and concerns associated.
Syllabus: GS-II Indian constitution – Fundamental rights, privacy, Criminal justice system, prison reforms
Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022 :
- It authorises law enforcement agencies to collect, store and analyse physical and biological samples of convicts and other persons for the purposes of identification and investigation in criminal matters.
- Resistance to or refusal to allow the taking of measurements under this Act shall be deemed to be an offence under section 186 of the Indian Penal Code.
- The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) will be the repository of physical and biological samples, signatures and handwriting data that can be preserved for at least 75 years.
- It seeks to repeal the Identification of Prisoners Act 1920 which provided for the collection of only fingerprints and footprints.
- The said Act, in its present form, provides access to a limited category of persons whose body measurements can be taken.
- As per the Bill, any state government OR Union Territory administration may notify an appropriate agency to collect, preserve and share the measurements of a person of interest in their respective jurisdictions.
Significance of the bill:
- Making Use of Modern Techniques:
- Help Investing Agencies:
- The Bill seeks to expand the ‘‘ambit of persons’’ whose measurements can be taken
- Make the Investigation of Crime More Efficient:
- The bill provides legal sanction for taking appropriate body measurements of persons who are required to give such measurements and will make the investigation of crime more efficient
Issues associated:
- Un-constitutionality: against Article 20(3)- the fundamental right that guarantees the right against self-incrimination.
- Violation of Article 21: The Bill also seeks to apply these provisions to persons held under any preventive detention law.
- The legislative competence of Centre: Beyond the legislative competence of Parliament as it violated fundamental rights of citizens, including the right to privacy.
- Lack of clarity: Several provisions are not defined
- Other: While the jurisprudence around the right to be forgotten is still in an early stage in India, the Puttaswamy judgment discusses it as a facet of the fundamental right to privacy.
- It also violates human rights provisions as laid out in the United Nations charter.
- Also, the implied use of force in clause 6(1) to take measurements violates the rights of prisoners laid down in a series of Supreme Court judgements beginning with A K Gopalan 1950, Kharag Singh 1964, Charles Sobhraj 1978, Sheela Barse 1983, Pramod Kumar Saxena 2008.
