NEW DELHI: The home ministry on Wednesday informed the Rajya Sabha that National Crime Records Bureau ( NCRB ) has been authorised to use automated facial recognition system ( AFRS ) for identification of criminals, unclaimed dead bodies and missing and found persons.

It however insisted that this shall not violate privacy, as AFRS will rely solely on police records and can be accessed only by law enforcement agencies.

Minister of state for home affairs G Kishan Reddy, in a written reply to a question regarding AFRS, stated that approval had been accorded for AFRS implementation by NCRB.

AFRS, as per NCRB proposal, shall facilitate identification of criminals, unidentified dead bodies and lost and found persons through easy recording, analysis, retrieval and sharing of information between different organizations. AFRS will be a mobile and web application hosted in NCRB’s (which manages data for police) data centre in Delhi but used by all police stations in the country.

NCRB plans to integrate AFRS with multiple existing databases like crime and criminal tracking network & systems (CCTNS), integrated criminal justice system, state-specific database systems and khoya-paya portal. : managed by NCRB.

CCTNS is countrywide integrated database on crime incidents and suspects that interlinks FIRs, investigations, and chargesheets of all police stations.

Integrated Criminal Justice System is any computer network that allows justice practitioners and agencies to electronically access and share information between systems and across jurisdictional lines.

Khoya Paya portal is a citizen based website to exchange information on missing and found children.

Cyber experts have cautioned against potential abuseof facial recognition technology as a tool of control and the risk it poses to citizens’ privacy and data in the absence of a data protection law.

