Criminal Procedure Bill repeals 1920 Act, expands biometric data collection

This Bill replaces the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920, to authorize the taking of modern biometric and physical measurements (such as iris scans and DNA samples) from specific individuals for criminal identification and investigation. It aims to make crime investigation more efficient by expanding the types of data collected and the categories of people subject to collection.

Who it concerns: The law affects individuals convicted of offences, those ordered to give security for good behaviour, and persons arrested or detained under preventive detention laws. It also applies to police officers, prison officers, Magistrates, and the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

What the bill does

• Defines 'measurements' to include finger, palm, and foot impressions, photographs, iris and retina scans, physical/biological samples, and behavioural attributes like signatures.
• Mandates that the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) collect, store, preserve, process, and share measurement records at the national level.
• Requires measurement records to be retained in digital or electronic form for 75 years, unless the person is acquitted or discharged after exhausting legal remedies, in which case records must be destroyed unless a court directs otherwise.
• Empowers Magistrates to order any person to provide measurements if deemed expedient for investigation.
• Allows police or prison officers to take measurements forcibly if a person resists or refuses.
• Deems resistance or refusal to allow measurements an offence under Section 186 of the Indian Penal Code.
• Provides a bar on legal suits against persons acting in good faith under this Act.
• Empowers Central and State Governments to make rules for the implementation of the Act, subject to parliamentary/legislative review.

Also in the document

• The Bill repeals the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920.
• It includes a provision that persons arrested for offences (excluding those against women/children or punishable by 7+ years imprisonment) may not be obliged to provide biological samples.
• The power to remove difficulties under the Act expires three years after commencement.