Hyderabad police on late night patrols are carrying a device

The midnight checks of the city police, who line up people and check their fingerprints to verify their criminal background, are humiliating and a breach of freedom.

Hyderabad police on late night patrols are carrying a device to check fingerprints, which gives an instant read-out of a person’s previous criminal record. Several men who were out in the late night were seen lined up by the police for fingerprint checks.The initial checks started with Hyderabad city police conducting ‘Operation Chabutra’ and cordon and search operations in 2015. Asked about the checking of fingerprints, DCP, South Zone, V. Satyanarayana said the the initiative was meant to deter youths wandering on the streets at night.

“After being picked up, these men are usually detained in wedding halls, where their fingerprints are processed through portable fingerprint scanners and their parents are called. The fingerprints are matched against police records for pending warrants or criminal records,” Mr Satyanarayana said.What started in specific areas of the Old City has now spread to other parts of Hyderabad and Cyberabad, with police randomly checking men. Even when the initiative was launched, some alleged that it violated the constitutional rights of citizens.

City resident T. Dhangopal Rao had moved the High Court challenging the police action. He argued that it was against Articles 14, 15, 19(1)(d)(e)(g), 21 and 22 of the Constitution. The court dismissed his plea and asked him to approach the commissioner.“If the fingerprint comes clean, we question their need to be outside their homes at such odd hours and send them off, said Chilkalguda inspector R. Bhaskar, who conducted the fingerprint operation on Tuesday night.

A human rights activist said the tactics adopted by the Hyderabad police were unpleasant. “These raids and checks are not the work of low-level police officers but sanctioned by senior officers. How is it that they are ignorant of the basics of the law,” he said. “The Hyderabad police has already stated that such raids were being studied for replication by their counterparts of other states,” he said.