Lok Sabha passes Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, ‘police will remain ahead of criminals’

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.

On the first day of his visit, he was supposed to do a roadshow from Tala to Dharmatala. On the second day, he was supposed to do a roadshow from Rash Behari to Rabindra Sadan. The BJP had even said that it had planned to hold a meeting with Shah at Hazra, known as Mamata Banerjee's neighbourhood. But perhaps all plans got ruined.

The Lok Sabha on Monday passed the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill by voice vote which seeks to provide legal sanction to the police to take physical and biological samples of convicts as well as persons accused of crimes. The bill replaces the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920.

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.

Amit Shah’s statement came in the backdrop of apprehensions over the bill by the Opposition regarding human rights and privacy issues.

Responding to a discussion on the bill, Shah said that the Opposition members raising human rights concerns must also think about the human rights of those targeted by the criminals.

“The bill will act as a defender of human rights of crores of law-abiding citizens,” Shah said.

Referring to concerns of some Opposition members over the misuse of data collected under the proposed law, Shah said the world is using databases and “we too will have to use it”, moving ahead with time.

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 repeated disruptions by the Opposition over the hike in prices of petroleum products and essential commodities.