Maharashtra: Trained forensic hands for crime scene study soon, says DGP Sanjay Kumar Verma

Sanjay Kumar Verma, DGP, legal and technical

Teen Sawal with Sanjay Kumar Verma, director general of police, (legal and technical) on the role and expansion of forensic crime scene investigations under the new criminal law as told to Vinod Kumar Menon:

Q1) What is your view on the mandatory requirement of forensic experts at the crime scene as per Section 176 (3) of Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS)?

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The provisions under section 176 (3) of BNSS clearly states that crime scene investigation will be carried out by forensic experts in all such offences which attract imprisonment of seven years or more. The forensic expert will visit the crime scene to collect forensic evidence and it does not mention the role of police for collection of forensic evidence. This provision was introduced in the new BNSS, specifically, because, earlier it was the police, who would collect samples from the crime scene and send them to the forensic laboratory, there were many contentions raised on forensic samples not collected properly, sealed properly or even preserved and so on. Moreover, the police are recruited ideally for law and order and investigations, they are not forensic experts by virtue of their qualification and training.

Q2) The State FSL has recently floated tenders for 251 Mobile Forensic Vans (MFVs), to cover almost all the districts and talukas. How will the contractual manpower on these MFVs function?

We are at an advanced stage of the tender process and it would soon have a positive outcome. And as per our (the state FSL) specifications, the outsourced agency has to adhere to all tender conditions, including recruitment of manpower fitting the specification and the candidates with graduate postgraduate qualifications in forensics and other streams of science (physics / chemistry / biology/ IT / Computers), engineering (IT/Computers), etc.

Those candidates hired by the outsourced agency will be on contractual basis which will be renewed on the expiry of contract. A mandatory additional training will be provided to the shortlisted candidates at the directorate of State Forensic Science Laboratory, in smaller batches and they would be given certification on successful completion of their training. Only the certified trained recruits will get deployed on the Mobile Forensic Vans. The entire training program and the MFV's deployment will run parallel.

The MFV's will be attached to each sub divisional police officer (SDPO) in the districts and DCP in the city areas. The vehicle will be dispatched to cover the crime scene in offences attracting imprisonment of seven years or more. When the MFV visits the crime scene, the trained certified forensic recruit would have a live online video call connected with an officer of the rank of assistant director, stationed at the Regional Forensic Science laboratory (RFSL), who will approve the exhibits to be collected and sealed.

The crime scene analysis will be done under the direct supervision of the assistant director, RFSL, and the samples /exhibits would be collected and sealed, as required by the FSL laboratory. Once the sealed exhibits are ready, the same will then be handed over at the crime scene to the concerned investigating police officer, who will make arrangements to send the exhibits to the forensic science laboratory, as per the procedure.

The role of the forensic expert will be only limited to collection, sealing the exhibits collected from the crime scene and handing it over to the investigating police officer, who will then submit the sealed exhibits to the forensic laboratory for analysis.

Q3) Why outsource? Why not have a separate wing of the police forensic wing like we have for handwriting, fingerprinting and photography, etc., who visit the crime scene and are under the State CID?

In the wake of the new law, we have already carried out a trial run of the forensic investigation of crime scenes and are satisfied with the outcome. We are in the process of putting a proposal of recruiting over 2200 staff, for which the government approval would be obtained. Besides, the recruitment rules need to be followed as and when the approval is obtained. Some of the recruitment will be done by the department and some will be through Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) etc. Gradually as and when we have our permanent recruits in place, they will replace those on contractual basis. Be assured that only properly trained experts would be roped in. We are going for professionally trained forensic experts, as mandated under the new criminal law.