Government aims to make forensic investigation mandatory for offenses punishable by more than 6 years: Amit Shah | MorungExpress
New Delhi: Union Home Affairs and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah speaks at the launch of the cooperative integration on the Government e Marketplace (GeM) portal, New Delhi on Tuesday, 9 August 2022. (PTI Photo/Arun Sharma)
Gandhinagar, Aug 28 (PTI): Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Sunday that the Center has set itself the goal of raising India’s conviction rate above that of developed countries and integrating the criminal justice system to forensic investigations.
The government aims to make forensic investigation “compulsory and legal” for offenses carrying a sentence of more than six years, Shah said addressing graduate students at the National University of Forensic Sciences ( NFSU), Gandhinagar, on his first call.
The government will provide a mobile forensic investigation facility in every district of the country and create a legal structure to ensure that the independence and impartiality of the investigation is maintained, he said.
“Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the central government is going to make amendments to the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and Evidence Act because no one has seen these laws d ‘a post-independence Indian perspective,'” he said.
“These laws need to be reframed from the standpoint of independent India. Therefore, we have consulted many people to amend the IPC, CrPC and the Evidence Act,” Shah said during the convocation speech in as main guest.
For this, the government will make the provision of forensic evidence compulsory and legal for offenses punishable by more than six years, the Union minister said.
This will require a large number of forensic science experts, he said, adding that none of NFSU’s graduating students will be left without an internship.
Shah said the country’s conviction rate would only increase when forensic evidence was made legal for serious crimes.
To strengthen the forensic science infrastructure, the central government has provided support to several states over the past three years, Shah said.
“We have also strengthened the central forensic laboratories. The NFSU will create a number of experts and manpower who will help to slowly set up its campus in each state. I think we can complete it by now. 2025,” he said.
A total of 1,132 students, including 91 from 21 different foreign countries, have graduated from the university.
Shah has also launched a ‘Made in India’ mobile forensic laboratory and said such laboratories will be made available in every district. He also assured that the government would provide a mobile forensic investigation facility to every district in the country.
Shah further underscored the importance of reforms to the criminal justice system and law and order infrastructure.
“This is not the age of the third degree. These are our own people, there is no need to treat them in the third degree. We will have to insist on the conviction of criminals on the basis of scientific evidence. is how we can increase the conviction rate,” he said.
The third degree is the use of interrogation methods that inflict physical or mental pain on suspects in order to induce them to confess.
He said that to increase the conviction rate through forensic evidence, the country will need skilled manpower. The NFSU was created by Prime Minister Modi with the same foresight to provide for their formation, Shah said.
In a very short time, NFSU has opened its campuses in several states like Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Tripura, Manipur and Assam. Discussions are underway for its establishment in Pune (in Maharashtra) and Karnataka.
