Finger Prints in India

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

'Finger Prints in India 2020, is a 24th annual publication, which highlights the progress and performance by Central Finger Print Bureau (CFPB) and State Finger Print Bureaux (SFPBx) including the activities, achievements, database status, trainings etc. undertaken during the calendar year 2020. This publication also presents other useful information such as relevant laws, equipments and relevant books, all at a glance, enabling the readers to equip themselves with the latest developments in the field.

Chapter I - ACTIVITIES OF CENTRAL FINGER PRINT BUREAU​

In the calendar year-2020, CFPB has examined and furnished opinions/reports in 175 document cases received from Nationalized Banks, Recruitment Agencies and Insurance companies. Total 57 cases comprising of 840 chance prints were also received from various Finger Print Bureaux of States/UTs. A total number of 63,405 fingerprint slips pertaining to Andaman & Nicobar Island, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Sikkim, Uttarkhand, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Jharkhand were digitized at NCRB Hqrs and migrated to NAFIS database.

In the NAFIS Project 1,186 Work Stations were provided to all SFPBx, Commissionerates & Districts. By the end of 2020, NAFIS solution was deployed at 562 locations covering 35 SFPBx of States/UTs and 403 districts sites. A total number of 27,77,689 NIST files have been migrated into NAFIS database as on 31.12.2020. User acceptance test was carried out to test the customized version of NAFIS solution. Later during the year, two batches of CFPB officials were trained on the NAFIS solution and officers have initiated using the NAFIS solution for day to day work.

Proof of technology event was organized in the month of August, 2020 to display NAFIS solution to all the DGsP & Commissioners of States/UTs and Directors of SFPBx. This event was chaired by Sh. Ajay Kumar Bhalla, IAS, Union Home Secretary.

XXI All India Conference of Directors of Finger Print Bureaux was organized on 13th & 14th October 2020, at National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), New Delhi, through the online platform wherein 133 delegates from various Finger Print Bureaux CFSL-CBI, NIA, FSLs, students from Colleges and Universities offering Forensic Science and Criminology course have participated. All India Board Examination for Finger Print Experts (AIBE) 2020 was postponed due to Covid-19 pandemic and finally it was conducted in February 2021.

Chapter II - ACTIVITIES OF STATE FINGER PRINT BUREAUX​

Important cases solved by the Fingerprint Experts of State Finger Print Bureaux are described in this chapter although States/UTs submitted 127 cases, only 70 are selected for publication based on the sensitivity, value of property lost/recovered, detection of a series of cases etc.

Main responsibility of FP expert is to develop the chance prints left by criminals at the crime scene and to match these with the fingerprints of the existing criminals. Further, FP experts also receive fingerprint slips of arrested persons for providing the previous criminal history by comparing fingerprints database. In the year 2020, Finger Prints Units of the SFPBx/Police/Other Staffs have visited 49,453 crime scenes and found 64% of Chance Prints fit for comparison. A total of 2,795 cases have been solved through chance prints.

Chapter III - TRANSACTIONAL ACTIVITIES OF CFPB AND SFPBx​

CFPB has received 8,197 convicted Finger Print slips for record and 12,540 arrested Finger Print slips for providing previous criminal history during this year. The search from SFPBx under the NAFIS project, State/UTs have forwarded 27,44,297 Finger Prints NIST/Non-NIST files in order to migrate these into NAFIS database and few States/UTs which maintain physical slips database were requested to forward Slips, 63,405 slips were digitized and later migrated to NAFIS database. NAFIS has a database of 27,77,689 Ten digit Finger prints as on 31.12.2020.

State wise statistics related to transactional activities such as number of FP slips of convicted and arrested persons received, accepted and enrolled, number of crime scenes visited, number of chance prints developed and compared number of document cases received and opinion given are covered in this chapter. State Finger Print Bureaux have received 38,663 finger print record slips from Districts/Police Stations only 33,577 were recorded and sought clarification for the remaining fingerprint slip during the year. A total of 5,30,174 FP slips were accepted for search and has traced 39,903 slips. Finger print officers have developed 48,937 chance prints after visiting SOC and has traced 2,768 chance print cases during the year. A total of 1,382 document cases were received in the SFPBx out of which 1,153 cases were examined by FP experts. In 102 cases, FP experts from various SFPBx deposed in the Courts of Law for testimonies. Following table shows the All India Statistics of the finger print transactions in States/UTs during 2020.

Chapter IV - ANALYSIS OF FP TRANSACTIONAL ACTIVITIES​

This chapter deals with the analysis of cumulative factors such as conviction rate, reasons of discrepancies in the data provided and an inter-comparison of data procured from the State Finger Print Bureaux along with the depiction of major activities such as Record slips, Search slips, Document cases, Chance prints and also categorization of crimes under various heads at a glance.

State of Punjab has highest number slips recorded in the year 2020 for conviction of criminals for murder, grievous hurt, rape and attempt to murder. On an average Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have recorded decent number of Conviction slips. States such as Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have recorded the highest number of arrestee slips. It is to be noted that some of the other states including Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have recorded much lesser number of FP Arrestee slips as compared to their mere size (area wise), population and number of crime incidences. Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan examined more than 100 document cases in the year 2020. States of Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have topped the list with highest number of chance print cases identified in the year 2020. On further analysis, it was found that Record slips of those convicted for Murder, Grievous Hurt, Attempt to Murder and Rape are the highest in number as compared to other IPC heads whereas the search slips recorded also demonstrate a sharp rise in crimes such as Kidnapping, Abduction and Assault on women. In cases of Property related crimes, the number of persons arrested and convicted for the offence of theft is higher than those involved in each of robbery, burglary and dacoity. The number of persons arrested and convicted for NDPS come second after other Special and Local Laws (SLL) crimes. States of Madhya Pradesh and Punjab received the highest number of conviction slips.

Chapter V - CAPACITY BUILDING

This chapter provides information pertaining to capacity building and various training programs conducted during the calendar year. CFPB/NCRB organizes a number of training/refresher courses for police officers/staff of FPBx from India.

ANNEXURES:

Useful information like pioneers of Finger Print Science, laws related to fingerprints in India, recommendation of XXI All India FP Directors conference, staff posted in various Finger Print Bureaux, overview of NAFIS, availability of different types of equipment in each State/UT, list of AIBE toppers, standard books on finger print science, contact details of State FPBx are covered in the annexure part of this publication.