The Hindu : New Delhi News : Judiciary beginning to value scientific evidence

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Sunday, Jul 13, 2008
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New Delhi

Judiciary beginning to value scientific evidence

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

Several High Court judges undrgo training programmes on criminology and forensic sciences

Courts now rely a lot more on scientific evidence, says Director of forensic institute

NEW DELHI: At a time when the Central Bureau of Investigation is relying heavily on collection of scientific evidence in the sensational Arushi-Hemraj murder case, a concerted effort is being made to ensure that there is greater appreciation of such evidence by the judiciary.

The Delhi High Court has taken the lead in the matter by having several of its judges undergo training programmes on criminology and forensic sciences that are also helping judges from the lower courts take a new look at the advances being made in the field of scientific investigation.

In Delhi, the National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science has been working hard to change the outlook of the police, the executive and the judiciary towards various aspects of scientific investigation of crime. While the new tools of investigation such as polygraphs, narco-analysis and brain mapping may not have got complete legal sanctity so far, there is now a much greater respect for them as vital aids to investigation.

“The courts now rely a lot more on scientific evidence and tend to doubt witnesses if they are seen to be going against the evidence shown up by such evidence,” says the Director of the Institute, D.M. Mitra. Also, in a number of cases, even if there is no evidence to corroborate the findings of the scientific investigation the courts now take the scientific investigation aspects seriously.

According to Mr. Mitra, the training of the higher judiciary in use of various tools and aspects of scientific investigation and forensic sciences has been of great help to the police and the investigation agencies. “There is a change top-down” in the approach to the issue, he added.

In the training programmes for the police and the judiciary, all the persons were familiarised with the collection of scientific evidence, he said, adding that such tools are now increasingly being used in solving crimes across the country.

Another senior official said the shift in the approach to scientific investigation also assumes significance as in India the policing system is at present faced with several problems. There is an acute shortage of staff in most States as in many of them there has been no recruitment in the past many years. Be it Bihar or Delhi, the shortage is everywhere and this hampers proper protection of scene of crime and scientific investigation. Also, many of the police personnel trained in forensic sciences and scientific tools of investigation are put in other departments or law and order duties and thus their skills go waste.

Problem of infrastructure

Finally, the official added, most States are plagued by an acute problem of infrastructure. They do not have adequate laboratory facilities to match and keep pace with the volume of work at hand. As a result, most of the organic samples rot in laboratories and cannot be worked on. And for some reason, the governments have not accorded the issue the importance it deserves.

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