The Nagoya High Court on Aug. 30 sounded the alarm about the current situation where anyone could be treated as a criminal suspect for life once they have been deemed as such by Japan’s law enforcement authorities.

The court ordered the National Police Agency to delete from the police database all DNA and fingerprint evidence, as well as mug shot data, that had been collected from a man in Nagoya at the time of his arrest in 2016 on suspicion of assault.

He was indicted but acquitted and the not-guilty verdict was later finalized.

All people are entitled to protect their personal information from being collected, held and used without good reason.

The appeal court’s ruling was based on the constitutional guarantee that all people are to be respected as individuals. As such, it answered the public's questions and concerns related to personal data.

Of all types of personal data held by police, DNA, which is considered as the “ultimate personal data” because it contains far more information than anything else, calls for special handling.

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© The Asahi Shimbun