Two days after Newsline reported about the state Criminal Investigation Departments non-functional server for fingerprint database,city MLC Mohan Joshi raised the matter in the Legislative Assembly on Monday. On March 23,Newsline had reported that the centralised database server of the fingerprint bureau of the state CID,headquartered in Pune,has been out of order for the last one year,making investigations across Maharashtra extremely difficult. Though,according to senior officers,an alternative database is being set up,the non-functioning server has slowed down the process of print-matching. Speaking to Newsline,Joshi said: It is a common knowledge that fingerprint matching is at the core of the very process of investigation and not to forget,to the process of prosecution too. A non-functioning database for the last one year shows how our police force is also a victim of bureaucratic redtape. After my question,the department concerned has been instructed to submit a report. Senior officials had said probes across the state had been affected because of the non-functioning server,with the fingerprint matching being done at five regional centres. Investigators had also expressed fear that there was a possibility of probes missing out on important links if the fingerprint search was not done properly. Joshi added: I have written a letter to Home Minster R R Patil,to which he has not yet replied. I will be following up the issue.
