DRACONIAN BILL?

The Billempowers law enforcement agencies to collect physical and biological samples of prisoners and those detained. Unlike the 1920 Act, it widens the scope of individual data which can be collected

- Shivam Sharma

THE recent Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022, which was passed by both Houses of Parliament, has created a furore. The Bill seeks to replace the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920. The legislation will now be forwarded to the president for approval before it becomes law.

The Bill empowers and allows law enforcement agencies, especially the police, to collect, store and analyse physical and biological samples, iris and retina scans, signatures and handwriting of prisoners for the purpose of identification and probe in criminal matters. It would also be applied to persons detained under preventive detention laws.

The Bill expands on the type of data that may be collected, persons from whom it may be collected and 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.

In the 2022 Bill, the set of persons whose data may be collected includes persons convicted or arrested for any offence. It also expands the power of the magistrate to order collection from any person (earlier only from those arrested) to aid investigation. This differs from the observation of the Law Commission (1980) that the 1920 Act is based on the principle that the less serious the offence, the more restricted should be the power to take coercive measures. Thus, the Bill significantly widens the scope of individual data a which can be collected as well as the ambit of individuals whose "measurements” can be taken.