It has been argued that the provisions of the Act collectively militate against individual freedom, rule of law and mandate to build a welfare State by use of the Directive Principles of State Policy, which are all parts of the basic structure of the Constitution, and are therefore unconstitutional.
The petition said that the provisions of the Act make it lawful for the police to forcibly take ‘measurements’ of convicts, arrested persons, detainees, undertrials or any person who may be remotely involved with the connection of an offence without prima facie establishing their involvement or the evidentiary value of such ‘measurements’. ‘
The ‘measurements’, it said, also includes ‘biological samples’, their ‘analysis’ and ‘behavioural attributes’ and can be taken forcibly in case of resistance or refusal.
“Specifically, these terms are open to interpretation to include ‘measurements’ of a testimonial nature taken by way of a compelled psychiatric evaluation. Such evaluation, when it leads to any incriminating admission, would constitute a ‘testimonial compulsion’. This coercive provision therefore transgresses the right against self-incrimination, a well-established principle of our criminal justice system and mandated under Article 20(3) of the Constitution,” the plea said.
Source: Barandbench
