by: Nav Jeevan

Govt aims to make forensic probe compulsory for offences attracting punishment of over 6 yrs: Shah

  • Centre has set a target of integrating the criminal justice system with forensic science investigation
  • The government will provide a forensic mobile investigation facility in each district of the country: Home Minister
  • There are 1,132 students from 21 countries & 51 foreign students here. They will go into society after acquiring knowledge of different fields of forensic science
  • Expert on DNA forensics and human identification technologies welcomes NFSU move

NE NEWS SERVICE

GANDHINAGAR, AUG 28

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said the Centre has set a target of taking the conviction rate higher than even developed countries and integrate the criminal justice system with forensic science investigation.

The government aims to make forensic investigation “compulsory and legal” for offences attracting punishment of more than six years, Shah said addressing the graduating students of the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU), Gandhinagar, at its first convocation.

“Today there are 1,132 students from 21 countries & 51 foreign students here. They will go into society after acquiring knowledge of different fields of forensic science,” said Shah.

The government will provide a forensic mobile investigation facility in each district of the country and create a legal structure to ensure that independence and partiality of the investigation is maintained, he said.

“Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, the central government is going to make changes in the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and the Evidence Act, because nobody saw these laws from an Indian perspective after independence,” he said.

“These laws need to be reframed from the perspective of independent India. Therefore, we have been consulting a lot of people to change the IPC, CrPC and the Evidence Act,” he said while addressing the convocation as its chief guest.

“Under this, we are going to make the provision of forensic evidence compulsory and legal for offences attracting more than six years of punishment,” the Union minister said.

“When forensic evidence will be made compulsory and legal for offences with more than six years of punishment, then you can imagine how many forensic science expert graduates and double graduates will be required,” he told the gathering, adding that none of the graduating NFSU students will remain without placement.

On the occasion, Shah also inaugurated three Centres of Excellence in DNA Forensics, Cyber Security, and Investigative and Forensic Psychology at the NFSU, and said he is certain that they will prove beneficial for the country’s criminal justice system.

“These three centres will also be the big centres of research and development apart from education and training…I can assure you that with the new journey in the field of research and development, India will become the global hub of forensic science in these three sectors. We will be at the forefront of the world in this direction,” the Union minister said.

Expert on DNA forensics and human identification technologies welcomes NFSU move

Saurabh Marya, Senior Director, Asia Pacific, GTH-GA-NE photo

“The launch of a dedicated Centre of Excellence for DNA Forensics at NFSU is a promising step to address some of the long-standing issues in India’s criminal justice system. Firstly, it will help NFSU fill up vacancies for trained DNA analysts at FSLs, thereby reducing sample testing backlogs and case pendency. This entity can also play a key role in encouraging crime labs to adopt global best practices & quality standards for accurate, reliable, and efficient DNA testing across the country,” says Saurabh Marya, Senior Director, Asia Pacific, GTH-GA (a consulting firm specialising in forensic DNA policy)

“The other important contribution that it would make is assisting state agencies in adopting cutting-edge technologies like Rapid DNA and setting up India’s national offender DNA database in the future. As evident from such programs in 60 countries around the world, such a database will go a long way in bringing crime down, solving cases faster, and deterring repeat offenders. The government has already taken a major policy step towards this with the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022 that provides legal sanction to the police to collect, store, and share DNA profiles of convicts & arrestees,” adds Saurabh Marya.