Explained: How NAFIS, a pan-India fingerprint database, will help nab criminals

India

oi-Prakash KL

New
Delhi,
Aug
25:
India
has
inaugurated
a
fingerprint
identification
system
which
will
work
as
the
database
for
the
crime
and
criminal
related
fingerprints
across
the
country
and
will
help
the
agencies
to
upload
and
trace
the
fingerprints
on
real-time
basis.

Inaugurated
by
Union
Home
Minister
Amit
Shah
last
week,
the
National
Automated
Fingerprint
Identification
System
(NAFIS)
has
been
developed
by
NCRB
to
help
in
quick
and
easy
disposal
of
cases
with
the
help
of
the
fingerprint
database.
Meanwhile,
Madhya
Pradesh
became
the
first
state
in
the
country
to
use
NAFIS
to
identify
a
deceased
person
in
April
this
year.

What
is
NAFIS?

NAFIS
is
the
national
database
of
fingerprints
from
all
states
and
union
territories
and
is
a
central
information
repository
to
identify
criminals
using
this
fingerprint
and
palm
print
data.
It
can
serve
as
a
game-changer
for
fingerprint
experts
and
law
enforcing
agencies
while
they
investigate
crimes
and
criminals.
The
national-level
NAFIS
solution
would
be
implemented
and
managed
by
the
Central
Fingerprint
Bureau
(CFPB)
at
NCRB.

How
does
it
help
criminal
investigations?

In
simplest
terms,
NAFIS
is
like
giving
a
unique
identity
card
for
criminals.

Fingerprint
of
every
criminal
registered
in
the
system
is
given
a
unique
fingerprint
reference
number
which
is
a
10-digit
National
Fingerprint
Number
(NFN)
and
is
valid
for
the
person’s
lifetime.
SO
simply
put,
every
time
an
FIR
is
registered
against
a
person
in
any
state,
it
would
be
linked
to
his/her
unique
NFN.
The
first
two
digits
of
the
ID
will
be
the
state
code,
followed
by
a
sequence
number.
So
with
the
help
of
NAFIS,
crimes
committed
in
one
state
by
a
criminal
can
be
tracked
in
any
part
of
the
country.
The
history
of
Fingerprint
science
in
India

While
NAFIS
is
a
new
technology,
India
is
not
new
to
fingerprinting
science
in
criminal
investigations.

Sir
William
James
Herschel,
a
British
ICS
officer
in
India,
used
fingerprints
for
identification
on
contracts
and
was
one
of
the
first
to
advocate
for
the
use
of
fingerprinting
in
criminal
suspect
identification.
He
used
thumbprints
on
papers
as
a
security
measure
to
prevent
signature
repudiation.

He
was
the
first
person
to
use
Hand
Prints/
Finger
Prints
officially
and
published
an
account
of
his
work
entitled
‘The
Origin
of
Fingerprinting’.

Criminal
Procedure
(Identification)
Act
2022:
How
it
empowers
the
police
further

India,
First
Country
to
Establish
Finger
Print
Bureau

Later,
Dr
Henry
Faulds
discovered
that
there
are
no
two
fingerprints
are
alike
while
giving
the
idea
of
tracing
a
criminal
from
the
latent
prints
found
at
the
scene
of
crime.
Based
on
the
idea
of
Herschel
and
Faulds,
Sir
Francis
Galton,
the
renowned
English
Scientist
established
scientifically
the
basic
principles
of
uniqueness
and
permanency
in
Finger
Prints.
It
was
then
that
Sir
Edward
Richard
Henry,
the
Inspector
General
of
Police,
Lower
Bengal
with
the
able
assistance
of
two
Indian
officers
namely,
Khan
Bahadur
Azizul
Haque
and
Rai
Bahadur
Hemchandra
Bose,
developed
a
system
of
classification
of
fingerprints,
thereby
discarding
the
anthropometric
system
of
identification.

The
first
ever
Finger
Print
Bureau
in
the
world
was
established
at
Writer’s
Building
at
Calcutta
(now
Kolkata)
in
the
year
1897.

The
Central
Finger
Print
Bureau
better
known
by
acronym,
CFPB
came
into
being
in
1955
in
Calcutta
(now
Kolkata)
under
the
administrative
control
of
the
Intelligence
Bureau.
In
1973
the
administrative
control
was
transferred
to
CBI
and
it
was
in
July,
1986
that
the
CFPB
was
finally
placed
under
the
administrative
control
of
the
newly
formed
National
Crime
Records
Bureau.

Explained:
What
is
the
Criminal
Procedure
(Identification)
Bill
2022

What
are
the
scheduled
Offences
to
Take
Finger
Impressions.

As
per
the
NCRB.
the
finger
impression
of
the
following
persons
will
be
recorded
at
the
Central
Finger
Print
Bureau:

1)
All
persons
convicted
of
offences
under
chapter
XII
to
XVII
IPC
which
are
punishable
with
rigorous
imprisonment
for
a
term
of
one
year
or
more.

2)
All
persons
convicted
of
any
offence
under
Chapter
VI
IPC
or
of
sabotage
and
subversive
activities
against
State.

3)
All
persons
convicted
of
offences
under
section
170,
302,
and
304
(murder
for
gain),
328,
338,
465
to
477A,
489A
to
489D
IPC.

4)
All
persons
convicted
under
the
Arms,
Opium
and
State
Excise
acts
who
are
suspected
to
be
smugglers
in
Arms,
Opium
by
dangerous
drugs
as
defined
in
the
Dangerous
Drugs
Act
(Act
II
of
1930)
or
entailing
enhanced
punishment
on
reconviction.

5)
All
persons
convicted
of
smuggling
gold,
currency
and
valuable
articles
under
Foreign
exchange
Regulation
Act
VII
of
1947.

6)
All
persons
ordered
to
execute
bonds
under
sections
109
and
110
CrPC
(for
offence
against
property
only).

7)
All
traffickers
in
women
and
children
who
are
convicted
under
section
363
to
373
IPC.

8)
All
persons
convicted
under
section
5
of
Act
LXXIV
of
1950
for
unlawful
possession
of
telegraph
wires.

9)
All
persons
convicted
under
section
3
of
Ordnance
XIX
of
1944
for
unlawful
possessions
of
Railway
Stores.

10)
All
professional
criminals
and
persons
of
dangerous
character
externed
from
any
area
under
any
state
Act.

11)
All
foreigners
externed
under
Foreigners
Act
XXXI
of
1946.

12)
All
approvers
in
gang
dacoity
and
criminal
conspiracy
cases.

13)
All
persons
suspected
of
being
professional
itinerant
criminals
and
persons
of
notoriously
criminal
reputation
who
habitually
absent
themselves
from
their
homes
and
are
believed
to
travel
to
other
states
for
the
purpose
of
committing
crime
and
who
have
been
arrested
by
police
and
whose
finger
prints
have
been
taken,
even
if
they
are
acquitted
provided
that
in
case
of
acquittal
permission
for
record
for
finger
prints
is
obtained
from
the
court
under
section
7
of
Act
XXXIII
of
1920.

14)
All
persons
convicted
for
attempt
or
abetment
(sec
511
or
109/114
IPC)
and
criminal
conspiracy
(sec
120B
IPC)
for
offences
mentioned
in
this
schedule.

15)
All
Indian
nationals
convicted
outside
India
of
any
offence
for
which
finger
prints
have
been
received
at
the
State
Bureau
from
those
countries.

16)
All
International
criminals
and
absconders
whose
finger
prints
are
sent
to
the
State
Bureau
from
countries
outside
India.

17)
All
persons
convicted
under
explosive
Substances
Act
(Act
VI
of
1908).

18)
All
persons
convicted
under
the
official
Secrets
Act
(Act
XIX
of
1923).

19)
All
persons
convicted
under
sec
101,
126
and
128
of
the
Indian
Railways
Act
(Act
IX
of
1890).

20)
Any
other
person
whose
finger
prints
are
ordered
to
be
maintained
by
the
Govt.
of
India
from
time
to
time,
subject
to
the
provisions
of
the
Identification
of
prisoners
Act
(act
XXXIII
of
1920).

Note:
The
taking
of
fingerprints
of
persons
who
are
local
men
and
convicted
of
offences
of
trivial
nature
will
be
subject
to
the
discretion
of
the
Superintendent
of
Police
of
the
district
concerned.