The
Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill was passed by voice vote in the Lok
Sabha on Monday. The Bill seeks to provide legal sanction to the police to take
physical and biological samples of convicts as well as persons accused of
crimes.
The
government’s intention to bring the Bill is to strengthen the law and order and
internal security of the country, Home Minister Amit Shah said in the House,
asserting that concerns over human and personal rights have been taken care of
in the draft legislation. “A lot of the concerns will be addressed with the
sending of that prison manual. It has various provisions relating to subjects
such as rehabilitation of prisoners, making them part of the mainstream again,
limiting the rights of jail officials, maintaining discipline, security of
jails, separate jails for women and open jails,” Shah said.
Opposition
members termed the provisions of the Bill as “draconian” and demanded that it
be referred to a Parliamentary standing committee to ensure stronger safeguards
to prevent its misuse. During a discussion on the Bill in the Lok Sabha,
members voiced concern over the broad provisions in the draft legislation that
empowered a head constable of a police station or a head warden of a jail to
take “measurements” of convicts as well as those in preventive detention. Earlier
on Monday, the Rajya Sabha was adjourned, amid repreated disruptions by the
Opposition over the hike in prices of petroleum products and essential
commodities.
The
Home Minister said that members should not worry at all about the misuse of
this Bill, adding that we cannot delay the employment of advanced technologies
in the criminal justice system.
Honourable
Speaker Om Birla took a voice vote on the Bill and with ‘ayes’ having the
majority, the Lok Sabha passed The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill,
along with its clauses.
“We
cannot tackle next-generation crime with old technologies,” says Union Home
Minister Amit Shah, adding that the government has taken various steps in this
regard, from setting up a Modus Operandi Bureau in the Home Ministry to study
crimes to carrying out an exercise to improve the IPC and CrPC.
“That
is why I am asking members not to view this Bill in isolation, it is just one
of the initiatives we have taken to improve the criminal justice system. There
is a need to see this with a holistic view.”