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.
More so, the law allows for the personal and biological data once collected to be stored for the extent of 75 years.
The bill met with fierce criticism from the Opposition, including Congress and TMC, calling it “draconian” and a "direct violation of the Fundamental Right of an individual".
And in the absence of a data protection framework in India, the proposed bill also raises questions on how it will impact fundamental rights like privacy and self-incrimination.
But, what does the law exactly propose? Why are members of the Opposition against it? And how will it affect the ordinary citizen?
In today’s episode, we break down this new bill with the help of Apar Gupta, the executive director at the Internet Freedom Foundation.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)