National Automated Fingerprint Identification System

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has inaugurated the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS) at the two-day National Securities Strategies (NSS) Conference 2022.

Details –

• According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, NAFIS, which was developed by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), would help in the quick and easy disposal of cases with the help of a centralised fingerprint database.
• In April this year, Madhya Pradesh became the first state in the country to identify a deceased person through NAFIS.

What is NAFIS?

• Conceptualised and managed by the NCRB at the Central Fingerprint Bureau (CFPB) in New Delhi, the National Automated Fingerprints Identification System (NAFIS) project is a country-wide searchable database of crime- and criminal-related fingerprints.
• The web-based application functions as a central information repository by consolidating fingerprint data from all states and Union Territories.
• According to a 2020 report by the NCRB, it enables law enforcement agencies to upload, trace, and retrieve data from the database in real time on a 24×7 basis.

How will it work?

• NAFIS assigns a unique 10-digit National Fingerprint Number (NFN) to each person arrested for a crime. This unique ID will be used for the person’s lifetime, and different crimes registered under different FIRs will be linked to the same NFN.
• The 2020 report states that the ID’s first two digits will be that of the state code in which the person arrested for a crime is registered, followed by a sequence number.
• By automating the collection, storage, and matching of fingerprints, along with digitising the records of fingerprint data, NAFIS will “provide the much-needed unique identifier for every arrested person in the CCTNS (Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems) database as both are connected at the backend”.

About National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) –

• NCRB was set-up in 1986 to function as a repository of information on crime and criminals so as to assist the investigators in linking crime to the perpetrators, based on the recommendations of the National Police Commission (1977-1981) and the MHA’s Task force (1985).
  NCRB developed Integrated Investigation Forms (IIF) in 1989-93 and implemented the Crime and Criminal Information System (CCIS) during the years 1995-2004.
• NCRB was entrusted with the responsibility for monitoring, co-ordinating and implementing the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) project in the year 2009.
• The project connects 15000+ police stations and 6000 higher offices of police in the country.