When it comes to forensics, popular imagination in India still harks back to the classic show, CID — where a certain Dr Salunkhe helps accelerate the investigative team’s probe with his laser-sharp forensic insights from the laboratory.
However, for many justice seekers in India’s mammoth criminal justice institutions, the reality is far from this. Often, years go by before forensic reports are processed and presented. As a result, justice remains a far cry for victims and families, while criminals may walk the streets.
The analyses and results of forensic laboratories at the State/Central level are critical for the criminal justice system. This ranges from crime scene reconstruction, photography, collection and packaging of evidence, digital and cyber forensics, examination of handwriting, signatures, photograph, fingerprints and currency, and chemical and biological forensics, among others. The right to a bias-free and speedy investigation is the right of every citizen enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution. Given how quality and timely forensic analysis is the backbone of many cases, delay in obtaining forensic reports or mishandling of forensic evidence stands between victims and the justice they deserve.
In a reply by the Directorate of Forensic Services to a recent Right to Information (RTI) query, it was revealed that more than 50 per cent of cases reported to the labs each year for forensic investigation, remain pending and unresolved. This was true for the six Central Forensic Science Laboratories located at Chandigarh, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Pune, Guwahati and Bhopal that fall under the Directorate’s jurisdiction. However, this is the data for just six labs. Each State has its own forensic laboratories serving different functions.
For a moment, consider the 4.7 crore cases pending in India at different levels of the judiciary. Out of these, four crore are pending at the District Court level and many might be pending due to lack of forensic report.
Cases pending
As per a newspaper report from August, around 20,000 forensic tests were pending at the Forensic Science Laboratory in Rohini as of June 2022. In many of the cases pending, the time factor is shocking, with pendency stretching to as many as three years for chemical and toxicology results. For evidence of biological or chemical nature, chances of contamination and scope of manipulation are directly proportional to the time taken to analyse them — thereby increasing the margin of error in a scientific procedure and therefore the final case itself.
Moreover, in India, there’s lack of preserving space for existing evidence, which ranges from DNA samples and fingerprints to devices like mobiles and laptops that might not switch on if a few years outdate that technology. Delaying testing limits the scope of testable evidence.
Moreover, there are very few laboratories in India that demonstrate quality in their analyses and report presentations. There is also a severe shortage of staff trained in forensic science across laboratories, further slowing down the in-lab investigation. All this contributes to lack of forensic evidence in India.
There has been discourse in civil society that calls for an increased judge-to-population ratio, as the judicial system in India is under tremendous pressure. In a scenario with a significant number of pending cases, one can imagine the volume of pendency caused by lack of forensic processing on time.
It is safe to say that 35-40 per cent of all cases are pending to be tried, simply due to the improper handling of forensic cases.
The writer Director, Connectel, whose forensic division is India’s first and only private forensic science laboratory to get accredited by NABL