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A look at forensics and the use of bio-metric information for policing. Indian police is very proud about its fingerprint bureaus and its colonial heritage of studying fingerprint science. The world's first fingerprint bureau was setup in calcutta in 1897 https://ncrb.gov.in/en/central-finger-print-bureau
The central fingerprint bureau publishes annual reports of their advancements in this area titled "Fingerprint in India". You can access the reports of past several years here. https://ncrb.gov.in/en/finger-print-india
If you look at the 2019 report, it goes into details about the push for National Automated Fingerprint Recognition System. https://ncrb.gov.in/sites/default/files/FPI_2019.pdf
The NCRB and Central Fingerprint Bureau are pushing this across all police stations in India and the focus is very much on using technology and forensics to ensure culprits of crime are caught wherever they are. The push for facial recognition is also in the similar direction.
While idea of forensic science is great, concerns remain. Fingerprint comparison using information technology systems is a exercise in probability. There could be a probability of your fingerprints falsely matching with someone else & an actual criminal not being matched at all
When you look at other forensics practices that emerged in India, they were often inter-linked with torture and custodial deaths to make people confess to crimes. Over time the police have brought new techniques like brain analysis, narco analysis and polygraphs.
There are human rights concerns on usage of these forensics systems that were evolved over time with people approaching courts and demanding accountability of the police. https://nhrc.nic.in/press-release/guidelines-administration-lie-detector-test
But most of these tests and safeguards haven't been seriously implemented and the realibility of these forensic evidence inside Indian courtrooms is a mess. @LokaneetaJinee has new book on this "The Truth Machines: Policing, Violence and Scientific Interrogations in India"
While Indian courts and its jurisprudence allow all forms of evidence, a lack of critical analysis of these systems at the design stage will force people to prove their innocence in courts.
As mentioned in earlier thread, the problem of creating these giant databases of bio-metric information and subjecting everyone in the population to these checks and pushing the burden on them to prove they are not guilty is not how it should work
The MHA is in the works of bringing a new law that will make all of this process legal even for facial recognition. This might come into the parliament this session or the next https://the-ken.com/story/new-bill-facial-recognition-free-for-all/
Along with these fingerprint and facial recognition databases, the push for a DNA database further increases the state's power over the population. This bill too is going to be tabled in the u the upcoming future. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/dna-bill-can-be-misused-for-caste-based-profiling-says-panel-draft-report/article32429334.ece
Whatever these laws are, if the science is broken people will still be struggling to navigate this weird complex of the criminal justice system. While we are discussing the legal side of the issue, the science is probably being ignored and take for a ride like the population.
