Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022:
The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022 has come into force after being passed by the Parliament in April 2022.
- It replaces the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920, a colonial era law, and authorises police officers to take measurements of people convicted, arrested or facing trial in criminal cases
Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022:
- It provides Legal sanction to the police to take physical and biological samples of convicts as well as those accused of crimes.
- The police as per section 53 or section 53A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973, can collect Data.
- Data that can be collected: Finger-impressions, Palm-Print impressions, Footprint impressions, Photographs, Iris and Retina scan, Physical, Biological samples and their analysis, Behavioural Attributes including signatures, Handwriting or any other examination
- CrPC is the primary legislation regarding the procedural aspects of criminal law.
- Any person convicted, arrested or detained under any preventive detention law will be required to provide “measurements” to a police officer or a prison official.
- National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) will store, preserve, share with any law enforcement agency and destroy the record of measurements at national level. The records can be stored up to a period of 75 years.
- It aims to ensure the unique identification of those involved with crime and to help investigating agencies solve cases.
