Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The top brass of state police are in a quandary over how to fulfil requirements of the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS). Fingerprints of accused and convicts in criminal cases are to be fed into the system.
However, some practical problems are coming in the way which includes lack of facilities for recording fingerprints in jails and the Supreme Court directive that the accused in cases where maximum punishment is imprisonment for seven years or less are not to be arrested.
Additional Director General of Police (ADG), State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB) had recently written to the Directorate of Prosecution asking it to record fingerprints of the accused and convicts for NAFIS.
NAFIS, conceptualised by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), aims at online collection and creation of a national database of fingerprints. MP was first among states in the country to implement the system in January this year and it has already helped crack five difficult cases.
However, police are facing problems in collecting fingerprints for the system. ADG, SCRB Chanchal Shekhar said that they are soon going to hold a meeting to work out on the issues. "We will also seek guidance from the Government of India," he said.
According to Advocate Alok Vagrecha, who practices at Jabalpur High Court, the Supreme Court has directed that the accused in cases in which the maximum sentence is up to seven years are not to be arrested. In such cases, fingerprints can't be taken at police stations. Similar is the situation in jails which do not have any provision for recording fingerprints of the inmates – whether convicts or under trials.
This means that even persons accused of molestation, stalking and outraging the modesty of a woman can now get away without recording their fingerprints. Those in the know of things say that the best way will be to make it compulsory for all accused to visit the police station at least once so that their fingerprints and other measurements can be taken. Directorate of Prosecution refused to comment on the issue.
