Bhubaneswar police to scan fingerprints of people ‘moving suspiciously’ at night

DCP Prateek Singh said there was no cause for concerns over privacy since the police will not store the fingerprints of people.

Published on: Dec 7, 2023, 22:28:00 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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The Bhubaneswar police plan to use mobile fingerprint scanners to take fingerprint scans of people moving suspiciously in the state capital late at night and run the prints against prints in the police database, said Bhubaneswar deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Prateek Singh

File Photo : Fingerprints of thousands of people involved in property-related offences such as theft, snatching and robbery, have been stored in the database of the State Crime Records Bureau (REUTERS FILE PHOTO/Representative Image)

Singh said police personnel patrolling the streets at night would take the fingerprints of people deemed to be moving suspiciously. “We would then match the same with the fingerprints stored in our database to find out whether they were earlier arrested in any case or not. If the fingerprints match, the patrolling personnel will question their purpose of moving on the streets late in the night,” said Singh.

Fingerprints of thousands of people involved in property-related offences such as theft, snatching and robbery, have been stored in the database of the State Crime Records Bureau through Crime and Criminal Tracking Networks and Systems.

The portable fingerprint information systems have been given by the Ministry of Home Affairs under the Mobile-Crime and Criminal Tracking Network Systems (M-CCTNS) conceived in 2008.

Activists, however, expressed concern at the plan, saying it invades privacy of people and was not backed by law.

“There is no provision of fingerprint scan in IPC and by doing so through an executive order, police are violating the privacy rights of common citizens. There could be people coming out of airport, railway stations and bus stands at night and they can be stopped by cops for fingerprint scanning. Besides, police can start such activities at any time in the evening in the name of crime control. This is not done,” said human rights activist Biswapriya Kanungo.

DCP Prateek Singh said there was no cause for concerns over privacy since the police will not store the fingerprints of people.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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