CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has called for installation of facial biometric identification process in ATMs to easily track persons involved in illegal withdrawals.The directive came recently while the court was hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by a man for tracing and rescue of her minor girl after he had filed a complaint in this regard at Pirahat police station in Bhadrak.
The division bench of Justice Sangam Kumar Sahoo and Justice Chittaranjan Dash said during the course of interaction with the investigating officer (IO), the court came to learn that even though the mother of the accused stated before him that she had no ATM card, it came to light subsequently that her card was being used for withdrawal of money in Kendrapara district.
The IO submitted that instructions were sought from the bank authorities to furnish the identity of the person who had withdrawn the money from the ATM concerned on a particular day at a particular time. The footage of the CCTV camera installed inside the counter were verified and it was found that a person wearing a cap, almost covering his face came and used the ATM card to withdraw money and left. The identity of the person could not be ascertained due to such reason, the IO stated.
Taking it on record the bench in its order on November 6 said, “We find that in many a case, a number of persons are making transactions in ATMs concealing their identity by covering their faces or by adopting some other methods. Therefore, if proper steps are taken by the bank authorities to install facial biometrics identification process at ATMs, when the user approaches the ATM, the system would ask the user to show his face to the ATM security camera so that it can monitor and record potential skimming operations and even stop them before it starts.”
“If somebody steals ATM PIN (personal identification number) and uses the card for withdrawal of money or for making any transaction, the same can be recorded which would facilitate to ascertain the person’s identity, especially in cases where money is withdrawn illegally using ATM cards,” the bench observed.
State counsel A Das assured the court he will apprise the authorities of the state to hold discussions with the bank officials, particularly, those from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to issue appropriate guidelines and make suitable infrastructure arrangement in that respect in ATMs to ensure that identities of persons making transactions can be retrieved by the investigating agencies as per the procedure of law, if need arises.