The Centre would look into a request for sharing of Aadhar data with police for the purpose of cracking cases involving first time offenders and for identification of unidentified bodies, Union Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir on Thursday said.
Suggestions for allowing Aadhar information sharing and amendments to the Identification of Prisoners Act would be discussed in the ministry, he said in his address 19th All India Conference of Directors of Finger Prints Bureau in Hyderabad.
The Minister was responding to a specific suggestion made by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) Director Ish Kumar at the event that limited access to Aadhaar data was needed to be given to police for the purposes.
Ahir also said data storage capacity of the Finger Prints Bureau should be enhanced along with modernisation which will be considered as a priority by the government.
Finger Prints is the scientific evidence which is considered reliable by investigators and jurists as it is fool proof and an effective forensic tool, which decreases crime rate and increases conviction rate, he said.
Later when reporters asked him about the NCRB chief’s suggestion on Aadhar data sharing, the Minister said “We will try it... It appears to be very important.”
Kumar, in his speech, said at present around 50 lakh cases were registered every year in the country and most of them committed by first time offenders who leave their fingerprints, which would not be available in police records.
“There is need for access to Aadhaar data to police for the purpose of investigation. This is essential because 80 to 85 per cent of the criminals every year are first time offenders with no records (of them available) with the police.
“But they also leave their fingerprints while committing crime there is need for limited access to Aadhaar, so that we can catch them,” he said.
Similarly, more than 40,000 unidentified bodies were recovered every year. With access to Aadhaar, these could be identified and handed over to their relatives, he said.
“We will have to make some limited access for these two purposes it will be good for investigation,” he said.
Another issue which requires an early intervention by the home ministry was amendment to Identification of Prisoners Act so that other modern biometrics such as IRIS, veins, signature and voice could also be captured, the official said.
He also stressed the urgent need for modernisation of all state finger print bureaus, saying finger print experts were now able to visit only around 55,000 crime scenes, which was just one per cent of the 50 lakh cases filed annually and “grossly inadequate”.
“This is because, many states neither have adequate finger print cadre strength nor proper equipment and labs,” he said adding finger print experts should also be sent abroad for advance training with Interpol or FBI.