What is NAFIS?

On August 17th, Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System, or NAFIS, which is designed to help in quick and easy disposal of cases with the help of a centralised fingerprint database.

In April, Madhya Pradesh became the first state in the country to identify a deceased individual through the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System. 

The identification of the deceased led to the registration of a homicide case based on circumstantial clues.

NAFIS is the Centre’s ambitious scheme under which workstations were set up in every state for identification through fingerprint and palm print database and matching system.

Its software serves as the key application for fingerprint experts for crime and criminal investigation functions. It also functions as the central information repository of all the crime and criminal-related fingerprint data of the country.

The national-level NAFIS solution is implemented and managed by the Central Fingerprint Bureau (CFPB) at National Crime Records Bureau, New Delhi.

It will enable law enforcement agencies to upload, trace and retrieve information from the database 24x7 in real-time

The identification system aims to establish a robust online searchable national database of fingerprints from all states and UTs. 

The key objective of the web-based application is to provide standards-based, interoperable, fast and accurate biometric enrolment and search services at the national and state level.

The system would have configurable virtual partitions which can be accessed by each state or UT and central agencies.

National Automated Fingerprint Identification System assigns a unique 10-digit National Fingerprint Number for each criminal, based on biometrics.

This 10-digit ID will be used for an individual’s lifetime, and different crimes registered under different FIRs will be linked to the same National Fingerprint Number 

The unique ID will be used for a lifetime of an offender. Different crimes registered under different FIRs will be logged as incidents belonging to the same National Fingerprint Number.

The first two digits of the ID will be the state code of the state where the criminal is registered, followed by a sequence number. The state partition will have IDs belonging to a state.