Specimen handwriting and signatures fall outside prisoner measurements; magistrates gained express power only after Section 311A.

Handwriting and signature specimens are not "measurements" under the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920, because that expression is confined to physical characteristics such as finger impressions and footprints. Accordingly, neither the police nor a Magistrate could compel specimen handwriting or signatures under Sections 4 or 5 of that Act; the comparison power instead lay under Section 73 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. Before insertion of Section 311A in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 on 23 June 2006, a Magistrate had no express power to direct an accused to furnish specimen handwriting or signatures during investigation. Section 311A later supplied that authority for a Magistrate of the first class.

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Issues: (i) Whether handwriting and signature samples fall within "measurements" under the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920 so as to permit the police or a Magistrate to compel their production during investigation. (ii) Whether, prior to the insertion of Section 311A in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, a Magistrate could direct an accused to give specimen handwriting or signatures, and what provision governs such power.

Issue (i): Whether handwriting and signature samples fall within "measurements" under the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920 so as to permit the police or a Magistrate to compel their production during investigation.

Analysis: The inclusive definition of "measurements" in Section 2(a) of the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920 extends only to finger impressions and foot-print impressions. Sections 4 and 5 of the Act operate in relation to such measurements and do not refer to handwriting or signatures. The statutory scheme, the nature of the expression "measurements", and the distinction between physical characteristics and acquired writing traits all show that handwriting and signature samples are outside the ambit of the Act. The power to require specimen handwriting or signatures is instead found in Section 73 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.

Conclusion: Handwriting and signature samples are not "measurements" under the Act, and neither the investigating officer nor a Magistrate can compel their production under Sections 4 or 5 of the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920.

Issue (ii): Whether, prior to the insertion of Section 311A in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, a Magistrate could direct an accused to give specimen handwriting or signatures, and what provision governs such power.

Analysis: Before Section 311A was inserted with effect from 23 June 2006, the law did not confer power on a Magistrate to direct an accused to furnish specimen handwriting or signatures during investigation. The Supreme Court had already treated such compulsion as outside the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920, and had located the authority in Section 73 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, which empowers the Court trying the matter to obtain specimens for comparison. Section 311A later removed that lacuna by expressly authorising a Magistrate of the first class to require specimen handwriting or signatures in appropriate cases.

Conclusion: Prior to 23 June 2006, a Magistrate had no such power; after the insertion of Section 311A, the Magistrate of the first class may direct specimen handwriting or signatures in accordance with that provision, while Section 73 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 remains the source of the court's comparison power.

Final Conclusion: The reference was answered by holding that the police cannot compel specimen handwriting or signatures under the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920, and that any pre-2006 Magistrate's direction to that effect was without legal authority; the statutory position was later corrected by Section 311A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

Ratio Decidendi: The term "measurements" in the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920 is confined to physical characteristics such as finger impressions and footprints, and specimen handwriting or signatures can be compelled only by authority expressly conferred by law.

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