In 1920, when the British were still in power, they introduced a law named the “Identification of Prisoners Act.” This allowed the police to take and store footprints and fingerprints of conflicts.
Now, 102 years later, this bill has not only been revived in a new avatar but its powers and scope has been expanded to questionable extent.
On 28 March, the Centre introduced the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022 which proposes to allow the police and prison authorities to collect, store and analyse physical and biological samples, including retina and iris scans. But this is not only limited to convicts but also to those that police consider suspects of a crime.