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/ 52
ROLE OF FORENs
SCIENCE Apyintsreation op cuIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM 66,
ROLE OF FORENSIC SCIEN
¥ (oe TION OF
CRIMINAL ugg N ADMINISTRATION
STICE SYSTEM
Defi
nition of Forensic Sciences.
Forensic science j
oe Science is an ever. €xpanding branch of applied science and
technolo; i ‘i a
ved SY for fight against crime, a definition of “Forensic Science” as
evolved over i
ae the years is the Study and application of science and
echnology in i
8y in search of the truth in Civil, criminal, regulatory and even non-
ns}
litigious maters. The term fore
which means “the market place”
ic comes from the Latin word ‘forum
~ This is due to the fact that the justice was
e
admini i 3
inistrated in the market Place in the ancient time, We have continued to
use the Word “forum? for a Public
Speaking place or a platform and we have
adopted forensics as the name fo:
anything related to the administration of
Science is used to describe the use of science
‘0 solve the mysteries of crime,.A noted
defi
justice. Today the term forensic
forensic scientist, ‘F.E Campus’
ined forensic science as,
application of the laws of nature to the laws of
human beings. The laws of nature not only include all the disciplines of
Science and technology but also the disciplines like psychology, linguistics,
auditing accounting and so on. Any branch of.science, technology or
engineering which is suitably adapted for investigation of crime and
administration of justice nowadays is designated as a branch of forensic
science. This makes the very concept of forensic science considerably
different from what existed earlier. Forensic science by the virtue of its
broad coverage benefits from the innovations and developments in all the
disciplines of science and technology in fact from all branches of human
knowledge and endeavor the forensic scientists to attempt high level of
professional efficiency which, inspire confidence to the crime investigations
he courts of law. Harmonization of forensic science in the criminal
and the cot h ROLE OF FORENSK
psvsteM 67
TENCE IN ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYS)
justice delivery system is imperative, keeping in view the ever changing
needs of the criminal justice delivery system.!
Scope of Forensic Science:
Forensic science in its broadest definition is the application of science t
law. As our society has grown more complex, it has become more dependent
on rules of law to regulate the activities of its members. Forensic science
offers the knowledge and technology of science for the definition and
enforcement of such laws.
Each year, as government finds it increasingly necessary to regulate
those activities that most intimately influence our daily lives. Science
merges more closely with civil and criminal law. Consider, for example, the
law and agencies that regulate the quality of our food, the nature and
potency of our drugs, the extent of automobile emissions, the kind of fuel oil
we burn, the purity of our drinking water, and the pesticides we use on our
crops and plants. It would be difficult to conceive of any food and drug
regulation or any Environmental Protection Act that could be effectively
monitored and enforced without the assistance of scientific technology and
the skill of the scientific community.
In the arena of criminal justice, laws are continually being broadened
and revised to counter the alarming increase in crime rates. In response to
public concern, law enforcement agencies have expanded their patrol and
investigative functions, hoping to stem the rising tide of crime. At the same
time they are looking more and more to the scientific community for advice
and technology support of their efforts. Unfortunately, science cannot offer
final and authoritative solution to problem that stem from a maze of social
and psychological factors. However, as the contents of this research work
will attest, Science does not occupy an important and unique role’ in the
aes jence in India A vision for 21 Ist Century Ist or
Tan vende and Dr RK Tiwari: Forensic Senet ry Ist edn, (2001), p-t-2.
——— ee ie out OF FORENSIC SCIENCE IY ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE.SYSTEM 68
¢ system- a role that relates to the scientists ability to supply
iin justio ie r
secre and objective information that reflects the events that have occurred
gta orime:
“Forensic science is the application of science to those criminal
and civil laws that are enforced by police agencies in a criminal justice
system” “Forensic science is science used for the purpose of the law
and thus any branch of science used in the resolution of legal disputes is
forensic science. This broad definition covers criminal prosecution in widest
sense, including consumer and environmental protection and health and
safety at work, as well as civil proceedings such as breach of contract and
negligence. However, in general usage the term is applied more narrowly to
the use of science in the investigation of crime by the police and by the
courts as evidence in resolving the issue in any subsequent trail
White.
Peter
Crime Laboratory:-
It is the place where principles and techniques of the physical and natural
sciences are practiced and applied to the analysis of crime-scene evidence.
FORENSIC SCIENCE:-An aid to the criminal justice delivery system.
Crime is as old as the, human organization itself the day. “Homo
sapiens became utilized erime was defined, Social norms were set for
identifying the do's and don'ts forthe people, ifthey were to line together,
‘The obvious aim was to identify the people who don't follow the set norms
punish them and segregate them from the mainstream ancl thus keys the
society clean. This gave birth to the processes of detection and investigation
of crime and administration of criminal justice which in turn, had to the
establishment of institutions for investigation prosecution and for unpinning
justice, Initially, the eriminal justice delivery system heavily depended on
° Richard Saesten: An introduction to Forensic Science, S* (1997),
Peter White: Crime Scene book ‘The Essentials of Forensie Science,(1998). ROLE OF FORENSIC SCIENCE IN ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM 69
the testimony of eyewitness to the crime. ‘The dependence on eyewitnesses
don’t not prove to be effective as they were found to turn hostile, many 2
time due to threat to life or lured of money hence it lacked consistency. The
crime investigations then resorted to “third degree methods interrogation of
the subjects to bring out the truth which due to the cultural change and
values accepted universally were considered
inhuman, as many innocent
people alone suffered and sometimes inadvertently. In the meantime, lot of
scientific research and development took place and it was then visualized
that the modern scientific techniques could provide quick solutions to a
majority of problems of human beings and hence crime investigation
couldn’t have been an exception. That is how the concept of a forensic
science got evolved.
———————————————
| varied and complex.”
Provisions of Indian Constitution and Forensic Science:
Article 21 of the Constitutions of India guarantees the right to personal liberty
which can be curtailed only in accordance with the procedure establishment
by law, which is reasonable, fair and just. The honorable Supreme of India
has recognized speedy trail as part of the right to personal liberty of the
prisoner. It was also held that the expression “life and personal liberty”
contained in article 21 of the Indian Constitution includes the right to live
with the human dignity. Thus it would also include within itself a guarantee
against the torture ‘and assault by state or its functionaries.
-yclopedia of Human Rights: see chapter “Human Rights and Forensic Science”
1, p-3. oe
oUt OF FORENSIC SCIENCE IN ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINALJUSTICE SYSTEM 71
The “third degree” methods also termed as torture are often resorted to
by the investigating agencies to a confession,
Amticle 20 (3) of the Constitution of India provides that a person
accused of an offence shall not be compelled to be a witness against himself.
Accordingly an accused can’t be forced to give information (e.g. Oral
confession, lie-detector test, the modus operandi of the crime under
savestigation, his extent of involvement) or in the form of physical evidence
(eg, signatures, handwriting, fingerprints, blood, semen, saliva, hair) which
may prove him guilty or otherwise. In a way this provision defines the scope
of police activities during the courses of crime investigation. The role of
forensic scientist in that case can use his experience and ingenuity to identify
even the unconventional physical evidence (clue material) which could be
subject to intricate laboratory analysis to produce irrefutable scientific
evidence. Such evidence would have long-term consistency to prove the
guilty and conviction could be ensured without making any compromises with
the above constitutional safeguards.°
Provisions of Indian Penal Code and Forensic Science:
In addition, India Penal Code(IPC), the Code of Criminal Procedure
Cr. P. C. (1973) and the police manuals of many states clearly lay down the
guidance and instruction for handling the under trails in the police custody
and jails. Section 220 of the Indian Penal Code provides for punishment to
an officer who detains or keeps a person in confinement with a corrupt or
malicious motive. Section 330 and 331 provides for punishment to those
who inflict injury or grievous hurt on a person to extort confession in regard
to the commission of offence. Detailed introduction are also given in the
State Police Manuals which prohibit the police for abusing, their authority
*R.K Tiwari: Forensic Science ~An aid to Criminal Justice Delivery System, p-3.
Side id i - ROLE OF FORENSIC SCIENCE IN ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM 72
sfecting arrests or interrogating suspects, at any stage of investigation
pile &
ye c252- The police are the most visible symbol of the state authority
‘é the
armed W
and the code
human organ of the state, dedicated to the cause of cleansing the society and
beat
Role of Forensic Scientist in Criminal Justice Delivery System:
ith wide range of powers to invoke the provision of the constitution
of conduct were strictly adhered to, police would become a
the service of the people.”
The forensic scientist is interested in harnessing his knowledge for his
pursuits to achieve the two fold aim of criminal justice the guilty shall not
escape and the innocent shall not suffer. The basic premise in using
scientific evidence in criminal justice delivery system is that the forensic
scientist is neither witness for the prosecution nor a witness for the defense,
but he is a witness of the court of law. However in practice the government
forensic science institutions as part of the police setup, can’t maintain
absolute independence at all levels. Secondly, the police investigators collect
the final scientific results and their impact on the criminal justice process. It
is evident that in spite of several limitations today, forensic scientists, as
witnesses in a court (whether acting for prosecution or for the defense),
rake important contribution to the criminal justice processes. Apart from
their contribution in solving traditional crime cases, the service of forensic
scientist being progressively utilized in the areas of anti-terrorist operation,
mass disaster management, cyber crime investigation, human rights
protection, environment protection, consumer protection, protection of
intellectual property rights etc. All these aspects concern the welfare of the
society. Utilization and application of forensic scientific techniques for
crime investigation. In 1933 the royal police commission (UK) critically
K Nanda and RK Tiwati: Forensic Science in India (Ist Edn. 2001) p 14-45. NOLE OF FORENSIC SCIENCE IN ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICESYSTEM 73
evaluated the role of forensic science in criminal justice delivery system in
the United Kingdom and outlined the measures concerning its development,
including training as well as the procedures for presenting the expert
evidence in the courts of law.
In India the role played by the Govt. forensic scientists has been given
due recognition in Section 293 of Cr.P.C (1973) of the country." The section
293 of Cr.P.C is reproduced below.
1. Any document purporting to be a report under the hand of a Govt.
Scientific expert to whom this section applies upon any matter or thing duly
submitted to him for examination or analysis and reports in the course of any
Proceedings under this code may be used as evidence in any inquiry, trail or
other proceedings under this,
2. the court may if it thinks fit summon and examine any such expert as to
the subject matter of his report,
3. when any such expert is summoned by a court-and he is unable to attend
personally, he may, unless the court has expressly directed him to appear
personally, depute any responsible officer working with him to attend the
court, if such officer is conversant with the facts of the case and can
satisfactory depose in the court on his behalf.
4. this section applies to the following government scientific expert
namely:-
a) any Chemical Examiner or Assistant Chemical Examiner to
government.
b) the chief inspector of explosives.
) the Director of the Fingerprint Bureau
d) the Director Haffkaine institute, Bombay.
.
* Reports of certain Government Scientific Officers ROU sical
OP FORENSIC SCIENCE IN ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM 74.
e) the Director, Deputy Director
and Assistant Director of a Central
Forensic Science |
-aboratory
f) the Serologist to the government.
This sub-clause (1) of ‘this section makes @ departure from the
cemenay Tules of law which state that unless the evidence is given on oath
and is tested by a “ross-examination, it is not legally admissible against the
ee Party. This section makes the report of any of the experts,
menloned ‘at sub-clause (4) admissible as evidence without calling him as
witness in the courts of law. However it is entirely the distraction of the
concerned court to accept the expert opinion report as such or summon the
concerned expert for corroboration and /or clarification, if any, in the court
before accepting it as evidence. If court does not summon the expert to
attend the court as a witness, the evidentiary value of the report remains the
same. As per the sub-claises (3) & (4) of this section, any officer, whether
he has singed the expert opinion/ report or not, may attend the court for the
purpose on behalf of the expert provided that he is conversant with the facts
of the case and can satisfactorily depose in the court of law. The expert
evidence is admissible in the court, as one of the documentary evidence.
Further, the expert report may be questioned by the court itself, or at
the insistence of the defense. The purpose behind this provision of law is
that in our existing system of administration of criminal justice, generally
the burden of proving the guilt of the accused lies on the prosecution, except
in certain cases, where specific provision to this effect is waa The expert is
considered as an official witness, who is supposed to clarifying his technical
c counts, if required. This is to be done as a prosecution
yn. specifi
a guilt of the accused in the court of law,
witness in order to prove the a STEM
ROLE OF FORENSIC SCIENCE IN ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE SY: 75
The Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 1994 was
awaiting clearance of Rajya Sabha. This amendment Bill, apart from the
other issues, proposed to add the following clause in the sub-section (4) of
the section 293, “Any other Government scientific expert specified by
notification by the central Government for this purpose”.
Inclusion of this clause would broaden the base for the application of
forensic science to the criminal justice delivery system of India. Any
forensic scientist, irrespective of his rank in the laboratory, if considered
competent, could be notified by the Government of India for be
ing
designated as an ‘Expert’. ——————
system 77
ROLE OF FoRENsy justice SYS!
SCIENCE IN ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL.
acquittal. Thus a foreng
viction or
5 Scientist is not concerned about the con
acquittal of a criminal
; inistration of
Free ase, but to present facts for the administral
justice,
Criminal Tavestiontiont
Tthas often been found that for want of proper appreciation of the law
of evid
vc @bdESeUnEretients of the offence, our investigating officers fail
to coll ‘-
; - the requisite evidence in course of ¢
unwittingly keep loo
Of the grip of law.
when he observed
absolutely neces,
time scene investigating and
Pholes through which the accused find an every way out
4 sad state of affairs over which even Bentham lamented
“AILT Say here is that every precondition which is not
‘ary for the protection of innocence affords a dangerous
looking-place to crime
the security of innocence may be complete
Without favoring the impunity of crime: indeed it can be only complete on
that condition , for every culprit who escapes, threatens the public security,
and so, far from being a protection to innocence, such an escape exposes
innocence to become the victim ofa new offence. To acquit a criminal is to
commit by his hand all the offences of which he is afterwards guilty. The
difficulty of proceeding against offences isa great cause of feebleness in the
executive power of justice and of impunity to crime. In ie, there is also a
miscarriage of justice when a guilty person escapes the law jeopardizing all
principles of social Defense. This escape from the clutches of the law is
further facilitated by the fact that very often even the requisite evidence is
not collected in accordance with the provision of the procedural law, thereby
making it difficult to use a evidence in a court of law. Thus, only a sour,
knowledge of the ingredient of the substantive law, the rule et evidence an
———————— CO?
a Trcory of Legislation (new & cheaper edition); Kegan Paul, London 1896 Ch.XIV, p40.
jeremy Bentham: Theory of L&E + P-420-421, C—O
M
we rahi fi ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE system 78
"procedural law ¢. =
F, an enable an investigating officer to fully compre
ireme:
4 nts of the law for court purpose”.
The lew commission of Tnctia too felt that many cases fail in court
boca Most of our investigating officers not being law graduates and not
having full experience of a particular price of evidence which might be
imporiant to the prosecutions whether any missing or whether any connected
subject requires to be investigated in order to fill up lacunas in the
rosecuti
Prosecution case and such other related matters!’.
Im many advanced countries, therefore, a good deal of emphasis is
Biven on the legal qualification of the candidates at the time of recruitment
to the police!?,
Indeed, a law enforcement officeren adequate knowledge of law is a
public hazard for he would not only ride rough hood over citizen’s liberty
but would also spoil good many cases due to his ignorance or insufficient
knowledge of law. It is also necessary to emphasize here that the
investigating police must keep themselves abreast of the latest developments
in case law for law, as interpreted by the High Court or the Supreme Court,
is binding on all concerned including the police. Thus an intelligent
investigator can ignore important -indiefat decision, especially decision
pointing out defects committed in course of investigation without
undermining his own efficiency. Indeed a number of police Gazettes and
police journals, both Indian and Foreign, have already become conscious in
minal Law and Investigation, (73, 3"
Ba iminology; Criminal Law an
** R, Debs Principles ore street, ‘Calcutta-pp 493-494
Dae a india; 14% Report (1958).Vol. Il, p-736-742,
"Law Commission 0!
it Bombay Police Journal, Vol-1
= Visit to Europe,
© GV. Kanatkar =
Bd. Vol. 2), M/S S. C. Sarkar & Sons 719
p system
i susTices
ROLE OF FORENSIC scasNcr wy ABMiNSTRATION OF CUMINAL
i s by
is matter i ‘ ase-laws by
i Spare Ying to focus more and more attention on ©
ublishing captous tors
“ 78 Soptous extracts from recent judicial dessions
~~" aSHESUECESSTUTIRVEStIgavlOnatn wees ——
Crime
Scene Attendance by Forensic Scientist:
treasure
of crime is 4
ch the culprits.
the law
In SEAT: i
the criminal investigation process, the scene
of c :
lues through which the investigating officer can T°#
f crime, where
F qe at
orensic investigation starts at the scene 0
g as much pertinent
enforcement officer shares the responsibility of collectin,
physical evidence material as possible. The presence ofa forensic scie
ortant process of recovering
ntist at
the crime scene is the first step in the imp
contact trace materials. Without which the potential for using forensic Rou
KOe, FORENSi¢ SCIENCE IN ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE sys
science in the os
crime j ; om
the most eff we investigation process cannot be realized. This is clearly
Ceti ‘ 4
decision Ye forensic aid, as the scientist himself can take appropriate
© sel
examinati “St the physical evidence materials, needed for laboratory
“on Tits {fective
| ong rn is be the most cost ¢
solution to tices un, this may prove to
Th "Me investigation process.
© decisi ’
al “sssionto calla forensic sient tothe seene oferime should
Ways be : ‘ c
based on practical circumstance, such as complexity and potential
for physical evig
ence, or need for immediate advice. The gravity of the
offence should
tbe the prime consideration, although it will inevitably be
a maj
Jor factor. The forensic scientist should be treated as a member of the
investigative team ag his/her professionalism ensures that the independence
and integrity of findings are in no way compromised by actual involvement
Inthe A rbeese MLepreeco
