BENGALURU: The Karnataka Assembly on Friday passed the Identification of Prisoners (Karnataka Amendment) Bill, 2021, which allows the authorities concerned to collect blood, DNA, voice and iris scan samples of convicts imprisoned for over a month which will become part of the database at the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Bengaluru. This is being done for better surveillance.
Calling the Bill a “breakthrough in criminal tracking system”, Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said a similar system was already in practice at the Central-level and now will be adopted in Karnataka.
The Bill, when it becomes a law, will empower the Superintendent of Police (SP) or Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCP) to order for collection of the aforementioned samples. Hitherto, the power was vested only with the judicial magistrate first class. After a period of 10 years, the authorities can order for destruction of the data.
BJP Chief Whip and MLA Satish Reddy said the new system will be useful for cities like Bengaluru which see a heavy inflow of foreigners. Congress MLA Priyank Kharge sought to know whether necessary infrastructure was in place to store the database. “When M B Patil and Dr G Parameshwara were Home Ministers in past governments, they had sent a proposal to the Centre seeking grants under the Nirbhaya Fund to create infrastructure which could be followed up now,” he suggested.
Meanwhile, a Bill to constitute a Prison Development Board was passed in the Assembly to ensure that prisons in the state generate revenue by utilising the available human resources — the inmates. “States like Haryana are generating revenue of about Rs 600 crore annually from prisons. Manpower at prisons should not go waste,” Jnanendra said, adding that in Karnataka, Rs 350 crore was spent on prisons.
“The new board will also help inmates get involved in various activities and help them earn. This will ensure that once they are released from prisons, they will have cash to restart their lives,” he said. The Board will have the prisons ministers as its chairman and officials of various departments as members. There will be a separate advisory committee consisting of social activists, media persons among others, but not any politicians, the minister clarified.
Another Bill that was passed was The Code of Criminal Procedure (Karnataka Amendment) Bill that will help recording of evidence of the witness by audio-video-electronic means in the presence of an advocate.