Parliament Question: Forensic science and new criminal laws

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2951 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 18TH MARCH, 2026/ PHALGUNA 27, 1947 (SAKA) FORENSIC SCIENCE AND NEW CRIMINAL LAWS 2951. SHRI S. SELVAGANABATHY: Will the Minister of HOME AFFAIRS be pleased to state: (a) the Ministry’s timeline for achieving 100 per cent National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS) adoption in all police stations and how its impact on charge-sheeting and conviction rates is being measured; (b) how is National Forensic Infrastructure Enhancement Scheme (NFIES) used to establish seven new Central Forensic Science Laboratories (CFSL) and operationalize State forensic facilities on schedule; (c) the capacity-building programs that CyTrain is implementing to train investigating officers on digital evidence and forensic requirements under the new criminal laws; and (d) what ethical, storage and access protocols has the National Forensic Data Centre set for handling sensitive forensic data? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS (SHRI BANDI SANJAY KUMAR) (a): MHA has allocated funds to States/UTs under ICJS 2.0 Project for the procurement of hardware for Police Stations including Fingerprint Enrollment Devices (FEDs) in order to extend NAFIS to Police Stations. The 100% adoption of NAFIS in Police Station depends on the completion of procurement by States/UTs.-2- R.S.US.Q.NO. 2951 FOR 18.03.2026 Fingerprint is an infallible and admissible evidence in the Court of law. NAFIS enables real-time fingerprint matching and verification, thereby enabling identification of the criminals involved in crimes and their criminal antecedents. Since its launch in August 2022, 8831 Chance prints have been traced using NAFIS, which enabled detection of many interstate and old unsolved crimes. Around 90,000 FP records are being added to NAFIS database each month. NAFIS, with its database of 1.26 crores is facilitating Investigating Officer to expeditiously complete investigation in a scientific manner, thereby ensuring timely filing of charge-sheets and improving conviction rates. (b): The National Forensic Infrastructure Enhancement Scheme (NFIES) is focused on strengthening the country’s forensic capabilities, exclusively through the establishment of Central Forensic Science Laboratories (CFSLs). Currently, 07 CFSLs are operational across Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Chandigarh, Delhi, Hyderabad (Telangana), Kamrup (Assam), Kolkata (West Bengal), and Pune (Maharashtra). In addition, approval has been granted for setting up 07 more CFSLs in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh under NFIES.-3- R.S.US.Q.NO. 2951 FOR 18.03.2026 (c): The Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) platform, namely ‘CyTrain’ portal has been developed under Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), for capacity building of police officers/judicial officers through online course on critical aspects of cyber crime investigation, forensics, prosecution etc. Till 31.01.2026, more than 1,51,081 police officers/judicial officers from States/UTs have registered for training and more than 1,42,025 Certificates have been issued through the portal. (d): The Government has approved establishment of National Forensic Data Centre under the umbrella scheme “Safety of Women” to systematically stockpile the forensic data including Biological/DNA samples received in crime cases, received from all forensic labs for an efficient evidence management system. *****