THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Investigation forces in the country have received a boon of sorts and it goes by the name NAFIS. In just one year, NAFIS helped solve at least 100 confounding cases in Kerala. NAFIS is a software that is unrivaled in precision and helps trace fingerprints from a crime spot and can locate criminals from anywhere across the country on a real-time basis. The software can be also used to help find culprits who are evading arrest for a long.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, NAFIS was developed by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). NAFIS is part of the Central Fingerprint Bureau located in New Delhi and has a centralized fingerprint database. The software will digitize and save the fingerprint of purported criminals. The fingerprints received from the crime spot will be checked on a real-time basis to locate criminals from any part of the country. The service is available 24*7.
The software also helps in identifying corpses. In this year, a man's dead body was identified using NAFIS software in Madhya Pradesh.
NAFIS has hitherto uploaded 1.8 lakh fingerprints from Kerala. From all across India, a total of 20 lakh fingerprints have been uploaded to the database. According to the directive from the central government; CBI, Narcotics Bureau, state police, and NIA should acclimatize with NAFIS and make use of the service.
In Kerala, 14 units of NAFIS have been opened across all districts to register fingerprints of criminals. The automatic forensic information system that was in use has been changed to NAFIS. It was home minister Amit Shah who inaugurated the service of NAFIS last year.
Kerala ranks best when it comes to proving fingerprint-related forensic cases. In 2020, 675 cases were proved by the fingerprint bureau in the state.