Image used for representation

NEW DELHI: The Automated Facial Recognition System ( AFRS ) proposed to be rolled out by National Crime Records Bureau ( NCRB ) to help the law enforcement agencies identify and track criminals, missing persons and unidentified bodies, will only be used in respect of persons figuring in the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems ( CCTNS ) database, home ministry officials clarified on Thursday.

CCTNS is a national database of crimes and criminals etc, with linkages to over 15,000 police stations across the country.

“This software will be used only in respect of such persons who figure on the CCTNS data base — accused persons, prisoners, missing persons, unidentified found persons including children and unidentified dead persons — and is not going to be used on any other data base,” a home ministry official said.

Just as fingerprint matching is used in investigation by the police by matching fingerprint found at the crime scene with the fingerprint database, the AFRS will add another information layer to investigation by allowing matching digital photos or video footage of a suspect or missing person, with the photo database of CCTNS. This is already done manually, said a home ministry official.

Seeking to allay privacy concerns, the officer said the database can be accessed only by law enforcement agencies and citizens’ privacy will be fully protected.

Presently, police undertake manual search for matching photographs on CCTNS data base. As and when this tool gets deployed, an electronic search will be possible.

In case an unidentified child is recovered, the police can match the photo of child using facial recognition tool, with the missing children database for scientific and speedy identification.

Similar use is proposed for identification of missing persons to reunite them with their families and identification of unidentified dead bodies to enable dignified restoration of the dead body to their family, another official said.

In case a person is suspected or arrested for crime during investigation, his photo can also be matched over the CCTNS data base for previous criminal records. This will ensure that criminals and terrorists will no longer be able to hide behind fake identities.

