The High Court has also sought to know as to how many cases are pending at the State Forensic Science Laboratory (SFSL), Junga and the Range Forensic Science Laboratories at Dharamshala and Mandi.
The High court’s Division Bench has also directed the State to specify the average time taken for reporting of the samples received from the Investigating Agencies by these laboratories. The State has been further directed to inform the court about the staff strength of SFSL and its range laboratories in the state. How many posts are vacant and how many machines are out of order in these laboratories? the court asked.
The State government has also been directed to specify that how many directions issued by the High Court including the recommendations of Dr. M.S. Rao, the then Director-cum-Chief Forensic Scientist, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi, have been complied with and what steps are being taken to ensure compliance of remaining directions, the High Court asked.
The Division Bench comprising the Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq and the Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua, has passed this order on the Civil Writ Petition filed by one Ms. Neha Scott. The petitioner has alleged that the procedure of collection and sealing of physical evidence collected at the scene of crime is not of high standard according to the present modern times. The sending of evidence in cloth and wax are archaic and need to be done away with, she pleaded.
The petitioner has further submitted that the investigation of any criminal case is the backbone of criminal justice in the society, hence securing and collecting evidence needs to be properly packaged, sealed and labelled, which is tamper-proof with a barcode.
The petitioner has alleged that there have been many criminal cases in which the spirit of the case was dampened due to the evidence been tampered with by the officials who were incharge of handling the case. As such, the protectors of law become perpetrators of law, she charged, highlighting the poor plight of SFSL, Junga and Range Labs at Mandi and Dharamshala.
