Centralisation of forensic data can help solve crimes better

• Vaid's ICS, Lucknow
• 14, Apr 2022

Topics : GS III

1. Newer and advancing technologies are crucial to an investigating officer – take, for example, CCTV systems capturing movements of people, videos and photos of criminals, and access control mechanisms of large complexes recording the signature, fingerprints, iris or retina scans. This evidence can be used forensically in two ways.
2. One, they can help in establishing that the person caught has committed the crime as fingerprints, DNA and handwriting samples may be matched with physical and biological evidence found at or near the crime scene.
3. Second, they can be used in searching the data bank of fingerprints, palm prints and biological characteristics of criminals from the past.
4. Unfortunately, in India, we have not maintained data banks (except fingerprints and palm prints) due to an inadequacy in the legal system.
5. The Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920 was the only law that allowed the collection and storage of fingerprints and palm prints of criminals.
6. Each state operated its individual fingerprint bureau which kept a record of the fingerprints of people previously involved in crime in that particular state.

Two significant issues with the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920

1. One, the fingerprint bureaus are stand-alone databases and are not connected to each other. If a man has a criminal record in state A but has committed a crime in state B for the first time, his fingerprints will find no match in state B as he has no previous record there.
2. This highlights the need for a centralised database connecting all the bureaus currently working in silos. Information centralisation and exchange will also improve the time taken to solve cases and prevent the commission of more crimes by the same people.
3. Two, this Act covered only fingerprints and palm prints. Criminals also leave traces in the form of physical and biological evidence. There was a need to include these recognisable traces, including unique identification like retina scans.
4. The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022, which was passed by Parliament last week, addresses these difficulties and provides cohesive tools to investigating officers through better forensic support

FACTS FOR PRELIMS

SEEMA DARSHAN PROJECT

Union Home and Cooperative Minister Amit Shah has inaugurated ‘Seema Darshan Project’ at Nadabet located on the Indo-Pak border in Banaskantha District of Gujarat.

•  This multipurpose tourism project was completed under the direct guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• ‘Seema darshan Project’ was initiated with the aim to provide an opportunity to the people so that they can visualize the life and work of the BSF personnel on our border.
• BSF is constantly protecting our borders in very adverse weather conditions.
• Under the ‘Seema Darshan Project’, all kinds of tourist facilities and other special attractions have been developed at a cost of 1 crore 25 lakhs.

AXIOM MISSION 1

A SpaceX capsule carrying three paying customers and a former NASA astronaut arrived at the International Space Station, finishing the first leg of this first-of-its-kind mission that will last about 10 days.

About:

The Ax-1 mission, which was organized by Houston company Axiom Space, is flying on the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour.

Axiom Mission 1 (or Ax-1) is a private crew mission to the International Space Station (ISS), operated by Axiom Space out of Axiom Space’s Mission Control Center (or MCC-A) in Houston, TX. The flight launched on 8 April 2022, from Kennedy Space Center.

Axiom Space was founded in 2016 with the goal of creating the world’s first commercial space station.