Amit Shah urges tech-led criminal justice system, stronger fingerprint database

The 26th All India Fingerprint Conference was held in New Delhi on June 19, 2026, with a focus on leveraging technology across the criminal justice chain. Th...

What Happened

The 26th All India Fingerprint Conference was held in New Delhi on June 19, 2026, with a focus on leveraging technology across the criminal justice chain.
The Union Home Ministry called for full integration of technology from investigation to conviction, with NAFIS at the centre of this push.
NAFIS is currently being used at only about 10% of its potential; authorities urged expansion of its crime-scene fingerprint database to strengthen evidence chains in courts.
Maharashtra recently (March 2026) approved the use of NAFIS across all police stations, becoming a model for other states to emulate.
The conference emphasized that enriching NAFIS with crime-scene prints — not just criminal records — is essential to proving guilt and securing citizens' constitutional rights to justice.

Static Topic Bridges

National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS)

NAFIS is a pan-India searchable database of criminal fingerprints, managed by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) under the Ministry of Home Affairs. It enables law enforcement agencies across all states and Union Territories to upload, trace, and retrieve fingerprint records in real-time, 24×7. The system integrates fingerprint identification bureaus of all states and UTs with a central repository, facilitating inter-state criminal identification.

Implemented by the NCRB; Central Fingerprint Bureau is located in New Delhi.
Database contains approximately 1.06 crore criminal fingerprint records (as of October 2024).
Provides digital collection, centralized storage, and fast retrieval of fingerprints, palm prints, and facial information.
Equipment provided to all Districts, Police Commissionerates, State Fingerprint Bureaux, and Central Law Enforcement Agencies.
Systems of all States/UTs are integrated with NAFIS.

Connection to this news: The conference highlighted that NAFIS's impact is limited if crime-scene fingerprints are not systematically fed into the database — the call is to shift from a criminal-record repository to an active evidence-linking tool.

National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)

The NCRB is the nodal agency under the Ministry of Home Affairs responsible for collecting, processing, and disseminating national crime statistics and criminal intelligence. It publishes the annual Crime in India report and maintains several digital databases — including NAFIS, the Automated Facial Recognition System (AFRS), and the Prison Statistics database — that underpin India's criminal justice infrastructure.

Established in 1986.
Operates under Ministry of Home Affairs.
Also manages the Integrated Criminal Justice System (ICJS) — a platform linking police, courts, prosecution, prisons, and forensics.

Connection to this news: NCRB is the custodian of NAFIS and the agency responsible for expanding its database coverage across states.

Criminal Justice Reform and Technology Integration

India's criminal justice system has undergone structural reform with the three new criminal laws — Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) — which came into force in July 2024, replacing the IPC, CrPC, and Indian Evidence Act. These laws mandate increased use of digital and forensic evidence, including electronic records and scientific investigation, making systems like NAFIS institutionally more important.

BNS replaces the Indian Penal Code, 1860.
BNSS replaces the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
BSA replaces the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.
The new laws emphasize forensic evidence and time-bound investigation milestones.

Connection to this news: The push to expand NAFIS's crime-scene fingerprint database is directly aligned with the forensic-evidence mandate in the new criminal laws.

Key Facts & Data

NAFIS database: ~1.06 crore criminal fingerprint records (as of October 31, 2024).
NAFIS utilization: approximately 10% of potential as of June 2026.
Maharashtra became a key early adopter, approving state-wide NAFIS rollout in March 2026.
NAFIS is managed by NCRB under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The 26th All India Fingerprint Conference took place on June 19, 2026, in New Delhi.
India's new criminal laws (BNS, BNSS, BSA) came into force in July 2024, with a forensic-evidence mandate.
NCRB also operates the Automated Facial Recognition System (AFRS), complementing NAFIS in biometric identification.