Will ensure scientific evidence sent to courts at earliest: Shah

New Delhi, Dec 19 (IANS) Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that the government will try to ensure that scientific evidence is sent electronically to courts and police stations at the earliest.

On the second day of his Maharashtra visit, Shah formally inaugurated the Camp Complex of the 5th Battalion of the NDRF in Pune, inspected the new campus of the CFSL and inaugurated its new building.

Speaking on the occasion, Shah said that the Government of India has developed many softwares, which are also being linked to the courts and Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), so that no person or prosecutor in the court will be able to say that the FSL report is yet to be received.

"The report will reach the court records directly and a copy will go to the police station and a copy will go to the Home Department of the state. The day this system is established, many delays will be eliminated and using science we will be able to increase proof of conviction," he said.

He pointed out that so far, there are seven Central Forensic Scientific Laboratories (CFSL) in the country and said, "If we have to strengthen the internal security and judicial system of a country like India in this area, then we still have to do a lot of work".

He mentioned that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, had planned intensively to make the Forensic Science Laboratory of Gujarat world class and today the Gujarat FSL is known as one of the best in the world.

He pointed out that the biggest drawback in the spread of FSL was the lack of a specialised human resource force, there was no such course designed for this field.

"In the field of forensic science, not a single college, university was established in the country. The country's first forensic science university was established in Gujarat. Our target is that in every state, the state government should establish one college each and with this university they should be associated with the college of forensic science," he said.

He stated that the day at least one forensic science college will be set up in all the states, then there will be no dearth of human resource force in this country and experts from different fields of forensic science will be produced by these colleges and universities and fulfil our needs.

"Thereafter, at least two mobile FSLs should be established in every district, which should cover every police station. If we can do this in the coming five to ten years, then a change can also be made in the country so that we can make the visit of the FSL team mandatory in the cases of punishment of six years or more," he said.

Expressing confidence that it will help in controlling crime and internal security, he said, "I am sure that the day we do this, the proof of conviction will increase tremendously and will be of great help in both internal security and crime control in the country. We will also enhance the manpower position of CFSL and along with this, efforts will also be made to ensure that scientific evidence is sent directly to courts and police stations electronically," the Home Minister said.