new Delhi . Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the Criminal Procedure (Identity) Bill, 2022. The Bill enables investigating officers to collect certain identifiable information (fingerprints and footprints) of persons, including convicts and arrested persons. It was passed by the Lok Sabha on 4 April.
A motion to refer the Criminal Procedure (Identity) Bill, 2022 to a select committee of the Rajya Sabha was rejected after a division of votes. 59 votes were cast in favor and 97 votes against.
During the discussion in the House, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the concern raised by the opposition MPs regarding human rights violations is not correct. He further said that the victims of crime also have human rights. He also said that those who are caught by the law also have human rights.
Describing the conviction rate in the country, he said that only 39 per cent of rape cases, 38 per cent of theft cases and 27 per cent of child abuse cases have been convicted. “So, shouldn’t we strive for a better system to strengthen the criminal justice system in the country?”
Referring to the strictness of the laws, Shah said, “The conviction rate is 82 per cent in South Africa, 84 per cent in the UK, 69 per cent in Australia, 94 per cent and 93 per cent in the US.”
Given that the main objective of this bill is to strengthen the prosecuting agencies to increase the conviction rate in the country and this will be possible only when the prosecuting agencies have scientific evidence.
Besides this, he also assured the House that the data and records collected by the government will not be accessed by third parties.
Stating that the Bill does not intend to infringe upon anyone’s privacy, the Home Minister said that these data would be safely stored in the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and the government would be able to use these collected data securely. will constitute a committee to formulate the policy for
He also said that the NCRB has the data to print the figure of one crore and after the passage of this bill, this data will increase significantly.
He also added that once this data is collected, the police station will send the sample of the suspect to the NCRB and within minutes, the fingerprint or other identification will be matched and if the suspect has details, he can be easily identified. and the information will be sent directly to the concerned police station.
No investigating agency will have direct access to the NCRB data center where this evidence will be stored, in order to maintain the confidentiality and security of the data.
Shah also said that drafts amending the IPC, CrPC and Evidence Acts would be sent to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs and after detailed scrutiny the bills would be brought to Parliament for further discussion.
Earlier, while debating the Criminal Procedure (Identity) Bill, Congress MP P. Chidambaram urged the government to refer it to a standing committee or a select committee and termed the bill as “unconstitutional and illegal”.
He also said that the records collected can be shared with any law enforcement agency.
—AnyTV News
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