Monday, April 4, 2022

Opposition ‘should show concern’ for rights of victims too, says Amit Shah

Allaying apprehensions of the opposition in Lok Sabha about human rights violations due to possible misuse of the Bill, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the Criminal Procedure (Identity) Bill will protect the rights of victims and law-abiding citizens.

“Those who are referring to human rights should also think about the human rights of rape victims. They (opposition) are only concerned about rapists and robbers. What about the human rights of the person who has been robbed?” Shah said.

“This bill has been brought to protect the law abiding citizens. Don’t try to portray it otherwise. In 2014, PM Narendra Modi put forward the concept of smart policing. Where T stands for Technology. We are here to fulfill the promise of T. England, Canada, South Africa, Australia and the US, which have even more stringent laws. The Home Minister said, ‘Opposition is talking about UAPA.

UAPA amendment was brought by Chidambaram, we supported it. How has UAPA been misused? POTA was a law, it was repealed for appeasement,” the home minister said, adding that the whole world is using the database. “Why are you afraid of it? How long will we live under British rule? We should use it to solve today’s problems.”

Referring to the concerns of some opposition members over the misuse of data collected under the proposed law, Shah said the world is using the database and “we have to use it too”. “The database is being used for over two-and-a-half years to solve crimes including automobile thefts. The data will be stored in a protected hardware and “those who send samples (for matching) will be sent the results and the data will not be shared,” Shah said.

After discussion, the bill was passed by voice vote. The bill enables authorities to collect biometric details of prisoners.

The bill proposes to allow police to collect fingerprints, palm prints, footprints, photographs, iris and retina scans, physical and biological samples. It will also ensure that police and investigators stay two steps ahead of criminals, Shah urged the opposition not to have any apprehensions about the draft law.

Originally published at Pen 18

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