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Delhi High Court Seeks Centre’s Response to Plea Challenging Biometric Data Law

The bench scheduled a March 19 hearing on a plea that challenges the 2022 law’s expansive data collection with 75-year retention.

Overview

  • A division bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia issued notice to the Union law and home ministries, the NCRB, the Delhi Police and the Delhi government.
  • The petition, filed by Jamia students Sahibe Alam and Saurabh Tripathi, says police took their photographs and fingerprints in April 2025 after a peaceful campus protest, with Tripathi booked and Alam not charged.
  • The students seek deletion and destruction of their data and a declaration that the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022, and its Rules are unconstitutional under Articles 14, 20(3) and 21.
  • The plea cites provisions enabling collection of physical and biological samples including possible DNA and behavioural attributes, centralized storage by the NCRB for up to 75 years, and cross-database sharing.
  • It also argues the law provides no prescribed procedure for destruction of records and no automatic deletion after acquittal, and the High Court will hear the case alongside a similar 2022 challenge on March 19.