HM Amit Shah stresses on use of fingerprint database for crime control

Addressing a meeting in New Delhi with Puducherry Lieutenant Governor (LG) K. Kailashnathan to assess the implementation of three new criminal laws in the Union Territory (UT), HM Shah said that provisions like e-summons, e-Sakshya, Nyaya Shruti, and forensics should be fully implemented as soon as possible.

He said that the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police of the Union Territory of Puducherry should review the progress of implementation of the new criminal laws once a week, the Home Minister every 15 days, and the Lieutenant Governor once a month.

National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS), a biometric system used by law enforcement to store and identify individuals based on fingerprints, was highlighted. Earlier, HM Shah said that only the Director of Prosecution (DoP) should have the right to give legal advice in any case.

The Home Minister emphasised ensuring the early implementation of the new criminal laws. He said that FIRs in the Union Territory of Puducherry should be registered in the Tamil language only, and arrangements should be made to make it available in other languages ​​to those who require it.

Earlier, while chairing a review meeting on the implementation of three new criminal laws with the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), HM Shah stressed the use of biometric technology to identify unclaimed bodies.

The Union Home Minister said there is a need to regularly interact with senior police formations of State/UTs to monitor the progress of the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) and Inter-Operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) regularly and provide impetus to the project.

He said that NCRB should create a data-rich platform to benefit the Investigation Officers and other stakeholders of the Criminal Justice System. He appreciated NCRB's efforts in the technical implementation of the New Criminal Laws and the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS).

The Union Minister also reviewed the integration of CCTNS 2.0, NAFIS, Prisons, Courts, Prosecution, and Forensics with ICJS 2.0 at the all-India level. Union Home Secretary, Director NCRB, and several senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs, NCRB, and NIC were present in the meeting.

During the discussions, he asked NCRB to facilitate the complete implementation of new criminal laws in ICJS 2.0, stressing on use of applications like eSakshya, Nyaya Shruti, eSign, and eSummons in every state/UT.

Elaborating on the need to have a generation of alerts right from registration to disposal of a case, he said alerts to investigation officers and senior officers as per pre-defined timelines would help expedite the investigation.

He emphasised that a team of the Ministry of Home Affairs and NCRB should visit the States/Union Territories to increase the adoption of technical projects and assist them in all possible ways.