Forensic science laboratories: India
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India’s forensic investigation capacity
State-wise: 2024
July 14, 2024: The Times of India
Most states have 60%-plus forensic staff vacancy. Unsurprisingly, police has to wait for months, sometimes more than a year, for forensic testing. That feeds into massive delays in disposal of criminal cases. If this was not grim enough, there are also an alarming number of cases of tampering with evidence, and poor chain-of-custody compliance.
And, it’s all likely to get worse. India’s new criminal code, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), mandates thorough forensic investigation for every crime that carries a jail term of 7 years or more. This is, lawmaking wise, an excellent idea. Forensic capacity-wise, BNSS may take a stretched system close to breaking point. Or, it can further delay investigations and court proceedings. Or, it can incentivise cops to take even more shortcuts. Or, most likely, all three.
THE OVERVIEW Forensic investigation started during the raj. The first lab was in Chennai (then, Madras), followed by Kolkata (Calcutta), Agra and Mumbai (Bombay).
Post-Independence, the network expanded. Forensic investigation now has a three-tier structure — Central Forensic Science Labs (CFSLs), State FSLs, and Regional FSLs aided by mobile forensic units. There are 117 functional FSLs, of which eight are CFSLs.
This sounds a little inadequate for a vast country but not too bad. But that’s only till you start taking a closer look. A 2023 report by Project 39A, a centre that researches the criminal justice system, makes for grim reading. Some highlights.
● The report covered 26 FSLs and found 40% staff vacancy. Around 66% of these were scientific posts.
● It said many FSLs have inadequate space, meaning even if they had adequate personnel and equipment, there wouldn’t be enough room for them.
● It also reported a “drastic decline” in DNA profiling.
● Cyber forensics and ballistics were two other areas where pendency was particularly high.
● The report says Central funding of FSLs is “highly inconsistent”.
● For state FSLs, bureaucracy made funding and approvals cumbersome. CFSLs were better situated on this metric. When you drill down the forensic capacity shortfall to states, the picture becomes clearer. TOI reporters looked at forensic capacity across states, spoke to current and retired officials. A quick summary: Southern states, except for Telangana, are much better off than most of the rest of India. Three other relative bright spots are Delhi, Chhattisgarh and Assam.
WHAT IS FORENSIC INVESTIGATION?
Basically, using scientific methods and techniques to analyse evidence, typically in criminal cases, but sometimes also in civil cases.
A good FSL should be able to do the following: DNA analysis, fingerprint analysis, ballistics (analysing firearms, bullets, and trajectories), toxicology (identifying drugs, poisons, or other substances in body fluids), blood spatter analysis (interpreting blood patterns at crime scenes), trace evidence, which deals with studying tiny particles like fibres, hair, etc, and, last, but also the fastest growing forensic speciality, digital device analysis (desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones).
Digital documents can include emails, server logs, documents in cloud storage, social media posts, messages, websites, locational evidence and voice mail.
LABS ON WHEELS
● Gujarat Forensic Science University recently launched a hi-tech lab-on-wheels.
● It has equipment to process crime scene evidence on the spot.
● Cost per van Rs 64 lakh
● Each van has a DNA sample collection kit, semen detection and collection kit with spot test card, 9 kinds of crime-detection kits, latent fingerprint development kit, explosives detection kit, light source of eight different wavelengths to detect body fluids, latent fingerprints, drugs, gunshot residue and specks of evidence not visible to the naked eye
● Vans are powered by a 5KV generator
● They are GPS-enabled
● Many states have older model mobile forensic units. Upgraded models are being used currently in Delhi, Mumbai, Gandhinagar
● Most states have too few mobile units
● Even better-performing states like Karnataka need 30-35 CSI vans. It has 14 now.
● Kerala has no mobile unit. It needs 19 vans.
● MP, a big state, needs 116 CSI vans
● Odisha has only one and needs 30
● UP has only 8, West Bengal only 5. Telangana doesn’t have a single CSI van
TAMPER PROBLEM
A major issue with forensic investigations is whether the evidence collected, even if it’s processed quickly, is actually authentic. Cases of manipulation are enough to cause concern. Mucking around with evidence can happen at the level of cops or labs. Some prominent cases:
● In the Pune Porsche case, the accused teen’s blood sample was binned. Police arrested two doctors at govt-run Sassoon Hospital who discarded the 17-year-old’s blood sample and switched it with another individual’s.
● An India Today sting-op in Feb 2023 revealed scientists at Varanasi’s FSL offered to manipulate forensic reports for a bribe. The FSL chief demanded Rs 10 lakh to remove all signs of poison from the record in a case the undercover reporters had sought to fudge. The lab head even offered to fudge DNA samples in a Lucknow lab, against cash. In Agra, a scientist was ready to tamper with a viscera report in a dowry death case.
● Forensic probe of a set of video clippings of the Feb 9, 2021, JNU event found two videos were “manipulated” where voices of persons not present in the clips had been added. Of the seven videos sent to the Hyderabad-based Truth Labs, two were found to be tampered with while the rest were authentic.
● In 2019, CBI filed a case against a former deputy director of Delhi’s FSL for tampering with evidence in multiple rape cases.
Reporting by Abhay Singh, Nandita Sengupta, Himanshi Dhawan in Delhi, Malathy Iyer in Mumbai, Sanjay Sahay in Ranchi, Debabrata Mohapatra in Bhubaneshwar, Tamaghna Banerjee in Kolkata, Nitesh Sharma in Jaipur, Mukut Das in Guwahati, A Selvaraj in Chennai, Kshitiz in Patna, Rajiv Kalkod in Bengaluru, Karishma Kotwal in Indore, Rashmi Drolia in Raipur, Sai Kiran KP in Thiruvananthapuram
CSI: STATE BY STATE
KARNATAKA
One of the success stories. With 230 scientists, 206 scene-of-crime officers (SOCO) and state-of-the art equipment, the Karnataka FSL is perhaps the best staffed and equipped lab in the country. Well before the new laws came in, SOCO personnel would visit crime scenes along with police and collect evidence.
According to police, the staff strength is almost full and they are looking for a few vacancies to be filled in ‘mobile forensic and audio-video’ units. They have enough to handle the newly introduced laws, senior police officers say.
KERALA
Not in Karnataka’s class, but getting there. There are 168 FSL officers and govt recently sanctioned 28 more posts, out of which 17 have been filled. Recruitment is on for the remaining 11. Police have asked the govt for 98 more posts. There are 18 FSLs.
But the current capacity was good enough to ensure no major case was delayed, say cops. This, despite the number of forensic exhibits doubling from 6,506 in 2018 to 13,273 in 2022. Good forensic capacity has helped solve tough cases, like the rape and murder of a Dalit law student in Perumbavoor in Ernakulam district in 2016. A fluid sample collected by the forensic team from the victim’s body cracked the case.
ANDHRA PRADESH
One step below Karnataka and Kerala in forensic capacity. It has around 500 personnel working in FSLs. But it needs 300 to 400 additional forensic experts, to meet BNSS demands.
FSL joint director (admin) V Eswaramma said forensic labs examine 15,000 to 20,000 cases every year. He expects the number to go up under BNSS. She says FSLs have solved cases of rape, murder, and poisoning when witnesses have turned hostile.
V Suresh Babu, a retired DCP, said the state doesn’t have a sufficient number of forensic teams or testing kits.
TELANGANA
The southern laggard in the forensic capacity league. The state has 66% vacancies. According to a Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPRD) report, there are only 10 scientific officers against 25 sanctioned posts and not a single scientific assistant against 28 sanctioned posts. As for lab assistants, there are 28 posts sanctioned for the RFSLs, but only 10 have been allotted so far.
ADG Shikha Goel said the department is preparing an estimate of manpower, infrastructure and equipment needed to meet the provisions under the new laws.
ASSAM
At 30% staff vacancy, it does better than many big states. And govt says recruitment is on. The directorate of forensic science in Kahilipara, Guwahati, has 11 full-fledged divisions and a DNA testing unit. There are three fully functional regional labs and two more will be ready shortly. Special forensic labs are planned in hilly districts like Karbi Anglong to deal with NDPS cases.
Director of forensic science, Athang Singson, said they have state-of-the-art equipment. Police personnel say they are confident they can meet the BNSS’s forensic investigation demand.
TAMIL NADU
FSLs say staffing is adequate. There are 254 scientific staff members in the forensic department, assisted by 144 technical staff in the roles of laboratory assistants and technicians. There are 103 additional staff for other roles. On equipment, too, TN does better than most. FSLs say they have enough. And the state govt recently sanctioned Rs 10.13 crore for the establishment of a new DNA Division in an RFSL. Govt has also sanctioned Rs 50 lakh to buy a bullet velocity measurement system to aid in ballistics probe.
DELHI
FSL staff vacancy is around 17-18%. There are 500 forensic personnel. 100 posts are unfilled. Recruitment is on, and FSL expects the staff vacancy situation to ease soon.
There are 10 FSL divisions. Cops say all laboratory divisions are well-equipped. To expedite forensic sample processing, an annex building with upgraded laboratories was constructed last year.
Deepa Verma, FSL director, told TOI that forensic teams are now deployed in all 15 police districts. And that these teams received comprehensive training on the new laws and on proper evidence collection procedures at crime scenes.
CHHATTISGARH
Does better than its bigger neighbour, MP. The state has 325 sanctioned FSL posts, 60 are vacant. There are 178 personnel and recruitment is on for 40 vacancies. Approval for more posts is expected, said TL Chandra, joint director, SFSL.
The state has labs in Raipur, Jagdalpur, Durg, Bilaspur and Ambikapur, and is awaiting the Centre’s nod for labs in Raigarh and Rajnandgaon.
There’s no forensic report pending for more than a month, but a spurt in tests is expected with the new law, said Chandra, adding that the lab handles 23,800 exhibits on an average per year.
WEST BENGAL
There are 35 forensic officers. A minimum of 30 more are needed. For forensic assistant and lab assistant levels, staff shortage is 50%. A forensics officer told TOI that they are unable to make immediate crime-scene visits. One arson site was investigated 48 hours after the event — as good as not sending a team. And that’s just one case. Six months is the usual delay in submitting reports. Even for high profile cases — the recent student death at Jadavpur University due to ragging — the delay can be more than a year. When cops persist, in some cases, reports come in 60-90 days.
Bengal FSL director K Jayaraman is clear: “Without capacity addition, it will be impossible for our small team to manage the volume of work we will soon face.”
UP
Staff shortage at FSLs is at 75%. Four of the 12 labs have “limited capabilities”. Backlog of untested evidence is at 50,000. It was even higher, but a govt effort since 2017 has brought it down to the current number. Cops say they are trying to prepare for new demands. Every district is to have an FSL. Addl DG-technical services, Naveen Arora, told TOI that 30,000-plus police personnel have been trained in collecting, preserving and documenting forensic evidence.
But who will test the evidence? Cops say they can’t do anything without technicians.
MAHARASHTRA
In 2022, Maharashtra’s main forensic laboratory in Kalina, Mumbai, received 32,109 cases, but only 50% were examined. The bulk of the rest (44%) were carried forward to the next year. This is a regular practice. Of the 47,362 cases examined in 2021, 16,608 were old cases that had been “carried forward”.
“The pendency of cases for forensic examination directly impacts the time taken and quality of investigation of cases,” said a report by Praja, an NGO that had filed an RTI on the issue. There’s 39% vacancy in Kalina FSL. As of March 2023, it had only 260 of the 426 sanctioned staff.
Navi Mumbai DCP (crime) Amit Kale said, “Post-mortem reports of more than 800 cases of accidental deaths were pending at Kalina FSL for two years.”
ODISHA
FSLs have 60% vacancy. Broken down by function, it’s 55% for scientific officers, 65% for assistant scientific officers, and 60% for lab attendants. Of the combined sanctioned strength of 250, there are at least 150 vacancies.
DGP Arun Kumar Sarangi told TOI police have asked for more personnel. Retired SP Santosh Jena said one of Odisha’s problems is that forensic staff there get headhunted by other states with better offers.
JHARKHAND
Negligible, is how officers describe the forensics staff strength in Jharkhand. Each of the 24 districts needs at least four scientists. Even the FSL centre in Ranchi has 40 officers against 66 sanctioned posts, and it receives 40-45 ‘exhibits’ for analysis every day. DG-CID Anurag Gupta said, “The FSL must be strengthened”. FSL director and special secretary (home) T Kandaswamy, said the govt “hopes” to increase personnel strength by at least 20x.
BIHAR
Forensic staff shortage is at 78%. Even under old laws, it needed huge recruitment. The new laws, cops say, is something they can’t even think about.
There are just three functional FSLs — in Patna, Muzaffarpur and Bhagalpur. Nine more are under construction. But each of the 38 districts needs one.
Even the worst crimes don’t get prosecuted quickly: the 2012 acid attack on two Dalit sisters, the 2018 Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case, the 2013 Patna blasts case.
“We don’t have adequate infrastructure to handle cases as per the new crime laws. Most labs lack modern equipment and technology, such as DNA analysis machines. The state FSL has only one cyber expert. This unit is overloaded with work,” acknowledged a top FSL official.
HARYANA
Haryana FSL is battling severe a staff shortage, say officials, especially cyber forensics and DNA technicians. Recruitment of 135 assistant scientific staff is pending. There is a nearly 50% vacancy for lab assistants in FSL Madhuban. Officials, when asked, give the standard answer: we need more equipment and more personnel.
RAJASTHAN
As many as 159 (36%) of the 439 sanctioned forensics posts are unfilled. SFSL has requested an additional 500 posts to deal with the expected surge in workload with the new laws. It’s still awaiting state govt approval.
Rajasthan FSL director Ajay Sharma says projections show the new laws will mean forensic examination of about 60,000 crime scenes a year.
Recently, Rajasthan HC pulled up the home department for not filing an FSL report in a Pocso case. Without forensics, the court had to grant bail to the accused.
MADHYA PRADESH
MP’s forensics department has 299 sanctioned posts but 47% vacancy. Only 17 officers are assigned for crime-scene examination and they have to cover 53 districts.
CFSL (Bhopal) director Shashikant Shukla told TOI the state needs 876 more trained officers, including scientists, and that 508 posts have been approved. But, as he said, it will take years to get up to adequate capacity. In most parts of MP, there is typically only one scientific officer responsible for overseeing two or more districts within a particular division. This arrangement significantly delays response times to crime scenes.
MP HC recently took up, suo motu, delays in presenting forensic and DNA reports in criminal cases. A status report submitted by govt said such reports are pending in over 2,500 cases.
Vacancies
As in 2018
From: AmitAnand Choudhary, Trials hit by vacancies in forensic labs: SC, November 24, 2018: The Times of India
Court Seeks Reply From Centre, States
The Supreme Court has sought explanation from the Centre and states on large number of vacancies in Forensic Science Laboratories (FSL) saying it is hampering speedy trial in criminal cases as scientific reports on evidence are not placed on time before trial courts.
There are 38 FSLs out of which 31 are under state governments. Six laboratories are managed by the Centre and one by CBI. The total sanctioned strength of all laboratories is 8216 but 3789 posts are lying vacant.
Slammed by the SC for not taking taking steps to fill up the vacancies, the Centre has given details of vacant posts in each FSL. While the Centre’s FSLs at Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Guwahati, Pune and Bhopal are running with a 36% shortage of manpower, vacancies in state-run FSLs constitute around 48%. The worst case is of West Bengal where 113 posts remain vacant against the sanctioned strength of 152.
In the era of hi-tech crime, the prosecutors and judiciary are increasingly relying on forensic evidence to prove the guilt of accused. A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Depak Gupta said a large number of trials were held up because of delays in Forensic Science Laboratories. “If the forensic examination can be expedited, it will expedite trials,” the bench said and asked the Centre and states to inform it about the steps taken by them to fill up the vacancies.
Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi said it was the responsibility of state government to take steps to fill up the vacancies in staterun FSLs and the Centre had a limited role. He said the Centre had written to all states to find out about filling up of vacancies in FSLs but only 19 of them had responded. The court thereafter decided to seek response from the states. The bench was hearing a PIL on condition of under-trial prisoners in 1382 jails in the country.
