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The idea of boosting investigative capabilities through technological interventions such as biological sample collection and iris scans in aid of fingerprints has been in the works for several years.
Towards integration
The government has been digitising fingerprints since the time the UPA was in power, with a plan to integrate all fingerprints available with states and the Centre into the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS), the national database on crimes and criminals. After the Narendra Modi government came to power in 2014, it embarked on a project to integrate IRIS scans and facial recognition systems too with it.
In 2018, then National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) Director Ish Kumar said that investigating agencies should be allowed to access the fingerprint data of Aadhaar to identify criminals. NCRB is the nodal agency for the implementation of CCTNS.
However, the Aadhaar authority in response issued a statement that under the Aadhaar law, its data could not be given to any criminal investigation agency.
Sources in the Ministry said it was under these circumstances that the need for a law that would allow authorities to collect and store samples from accused and convicts was deemed necessary.
Efforts at scaling up
The idea of integrating data from new investigation tools was envisaged as part of Phase II of CCTNS, which aims to connect all police stations across the country, with all their crime and criminal data, into a central database for real time access to information on criminals.
The Home Ministry is working on the integration of the fingerprint database of the Central Finger Print Bureau (CFPB), and get NIST Fingerprint Image Software (NFIS), a technology used by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), to match fingerprints.
The CFPB currently uses Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), also called FACTS, for fingerprint-matching. Sources said the technology is outdated — and the FBI, which uses fingerprint data extensively for criminal investigations, has long abandoned it.
The government is also working on scaling up data collection. While the FBI has over 4 crore fingerprints in its database, the CFPB currently has a database of just over 10 lakh fingerprints. The Home Ministry is working on taking it to 30 lakh fingerprints by connecting the data stored with state fingerprint bureaus. The plan is to eventually store all data from crime scene investigations across the country. Annually, close to 50 lakh cases are registered. The National Informatics Centre is working on a cloud for its integration, a source said.
“The idea is that integration of the fingerprint database, face recognition software, and iris scans will massively boost the crime investigation capabilities of the police. It will also help civilian verifications when needed. No one will be able to get away with a fake ID,” a Home Ministry official said.
Lessons from past
Notably, in 2009, India’s most wanted terrorist and the operations chief of the Indian Mujahideen, Ahmed Zarar Siddibappa alias Yasin Bhatkal, was arrested by Kolkata Police in a case of theft. However, he was identified as “Bulla Malik” based on fake identity documents, and was let off after a few days. He went on to engineer a series of blasts in Pune and Mumbai after this — until he was apprehended in Nepal in 2013. The episode remains a reminder of the importance of CCTNS and the need to integrate the fingerprint database and face recognition in criminal investigations.
In the 2013 Bodh Gaya blasts, the NIA had recovered an abandoned Buddhist robe from the blast site and taken DNA samples from it. Later, when IM operative Hyder Ali was arrested for the blast, his biological samples matched with those collected from the site, and he was convicted.
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