From the past few decades, forensic science has become an integral part of the Indian judicial system, aiding in the investigation and resolution of criminal cases. This field has evolved significantly in India, thanks to the efforts of the government and various institutions. Over the past few decades, the Indian government has taken several steps to develop and strengthen institutions related to forensic science. This includes the establishment of dedicated forensic laboratories, training institutes, and research centers, Universities across the country. These institutions not only provide technical support to law enforcement agencies but also conduct research and advancements in forensic techniques.
The growth of forensic science in India has been driven by the need to tackle the increasing rate of crime and demand for scientific evidence in courts. The country now boasts of state-of-the-art forensic facilities that use advanced technology and techniques to analyze and interpret evidence from crime scenes. This has not only enhanced the speed of investigations but also improved the accuracy of crime detection and conviction.
In addition to technical advancements, the Indian government has also taken steps to improve the human resource aspect of forensic science. Various training and certification programs have been introduced to ensure the availability of qualified and skilled personnel in this field.
Overall, the institutional development of forensic science in India has greatly contributed to the effective functioning of the country’s criminal justice system. With continued efforts and investments, it is expected that forensic science will continue to play a significant role in solving crimes and delivering justice in India.
Development of Governing Instituion
The DFSS was created by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA ) in 2002 after bifurcation of BPR&D, based on the recommendations of National Human Rights Commission and Padmanabhaiah Committee on police reforms. It is entrusted with the task of improve and promote the Forensic science practices in the country.
It has seven Central Forensic Science Laboratories under its administrative control.
- Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Chandigarh
- Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Bhopal
- Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Kolkata
- Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Pune
- Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Hyderabad
- Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Guwahati
- Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Delhi
Function of DFSS:
- The Directorate of Forensic Science Services is responsible for performing following duties:
- To provide high quality and on time Forensic Services to Criminal Justice Delivery System.
- To develop new technologies and create new scientific knowledge.
- To encourage Research & Development in various areas of forensic science.
- To establish linkages with National and International Scientific, Forensic Institutions and Universities.
- To promote Quality Assurance and Quality Control in Forensic Testing.
- To disseminate and promote knowledge in the field of application of Science & Technology.
- To formulate Plan and Policies to promote capacity building in Forensic Science in the country.
- To develop National database on various forensic indices.
- To promote excellence in Forensic Services & R&D by instituting awards & incentive programs.
- To assist and advice the Central and State Governments in all Forensic Science matters.
Development of Universities, Research and Training Institutions
Brief History:
ICFS was established in 1972 under BPR&D with the objective of undertaking criminology and forensic science research and providing training to in-service staff. It also provides specialized training to officers of the Indian Police Service, officers of other central and state law enforcement agencies, and officers of the judiciary.
In 1976 it became an independent Department directly under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The Institute was upgraded as a National Institute in 1991 and became National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science (NICFS).
It has been renamed as “Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science” (LNJN NICFS) on October 3, 2003.
Objective:
- To Conducts research in field of Criminology and Forensic Science.
- To provide consultancy services in the area of crime prevention.
- To provide training and research in criminology and forensic science to the officers from Police and Civil Administration, Prosecution, Judiciary, Correctional Administration, Customs, Defense Forces and Forensic Science Laboratories have attended various orientation and specialized courses at the institute.
The Gujarat Forensic Science University (World’s First Forensics University) was formed by the Government of Gujarat in 2008 by an Act passes by the Gujrat Legislative Assembly.
The university had three main Institutes with specialised programes. These institutes were:
- Institute of Forensic Sciences
- Institute of Research & Development
- Institute of Behavioral Sciences
GFSU was the first in Asia to have Ballistic Research Centre have capability to test:
- Small arm
- Large Arm (AK 47 etc.)
- Large size armour vehicle
- Bullet Proof Jackets etc.
On 1st October 2020, the Government of India established National Forensic Science University (NFSU ) by an Parliamentary Act (National Forensic Sciences University Act-2020). NFSU was accorded the status of an Institution of National Importance (INI) by the Government of India.
By the effect of this Act GFSU turned into the Gujarat Campus of NFSU, and the Lok Nayak Jayprakash Narayan National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Sciences (LNJN-NICFS) at Rohini, New Delhi as another Campus.
It has total 10 campus nationally and internationally.
NFSU became an international university in April 2023, after the first campus of the university was established in outside India at Uganda, which also became Africa’s first Forensics Science University.
It also has collaborations with national and international organizations, such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Interpol, and the National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science (NICFS).
NFSU Campuses
The NFSU Gandhinagar has an ambitious plan of opening over 20 Training Centres, 10 campuses in India, five campuses abroad and 50-100 affiliated colleges.
- Gujrat Campus: It was established in Gandhinagar Gujarat by the Government of India through a parliamentary Act in 2022. NFSU Gujrat was dedicated to Forensic, behavioral, cybersecurity, digital forensics, and allied Sciences.
- Delhi Campus: In October 2020 the Lok Nayak Jayprakash Narayan National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Sciences (LNJN-NICFS) Delhi become 2nd Camus of NFSU Rohini, New Delhi by an act of Parliament.
- Goa Campus: Established in Ponda, Goa on 14 th Oct 2022.
- Tripura Campus: NFSU has established its campus at Agartala, Tripura in November 2021.
- NFSU Bhopal: NFSU Bhopal is an off-site campus and established in 2020 in Bhopal Madhya Pradesh.
- NFSU Pune: National Forensic Science Academy Pune, Maharashtra (NFSU Academy-Pune) is another off-campus of National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU), which has been established in collaboration with Directorate of Forensic Science Services (DFSS, New Delhi) and Central Forensic Science Laboratory – Pune (CFSL- Pune) in the Month of June2022
- NFSU Guwahati: NFSU Academy – Guwahati, Assam is another off-campus of National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU), which has been established in collaboration with Directorate of Forensic Science Services (DFSS, New Delhi) and Central Forensic Science Laboratory Guwahati (CFSL-Guwahati) in the Month of June 2022. On 25th May 2023, Union Minister laid the foundation stone of the Guwahati (Assam) campus of NFSU. It is the world’s 11th and the country’s 10th NFSU.
- NFSU Manipur: Off site campus of NFSU established by signing Tripartite MoU among NFSU, DFSS and Govt. of Manipur to establish the Institute of Forensic Sciences for Training & Skilling (IFS-T&S), National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU)-Manipur.
- NFSU Dharwad: National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) campus at Dharwad was established on 28th Jan 2023.
Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) project, started in the year 2009. It aimed to inter-link all police stations under a common application software for the purpose of investigation, data analytics, research, policy making and providing Citizen Services such as reporting & tracking of complaints, request for antecedent verifications by Police etc. The project is being implemented with close collaboration between States and Union Government.
Wherein Inter-Operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) has been established to make the justice delivery system more effective. The main objective of the ICJS is to integrate main pillars of criminal justice, i.e. the Police (CCTNS), Courts (e-Courts), Jails (e-Prisons), Forensic Lab (e-Forensic) and Prosecution (e-Prosecution). This process would require the data to be entered into the system only once (one data once entry) and the various databases available could be used for criminal investigation in a joint manner.
New Features / Uses for Police Investigation in CCTNS/ICJS:
- In all the States, the facility of extracting mini-docket reports on crime and criminals is available from ICJS on a recurring basis.
- Investigation Tracking System for Sexual Offences (ITSSO), an online analytical tool, has been launched to monitor and track police investigations in two months in sexual offences as per Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2018.
- Ministry of Home Affairs has launched a “National Database of Sexual Offenders” (NDSO). Police officers use this database to identify repeat offenders, receive alerts on sex offenders, and sensitive institutions like educational institutions, hotels, public traffic etc.
- Adjournment Alert module, an alert mechanism module has been developed in the e-Prosecution application as a step towards facilitating States/UTs to ensure timeliness in disposal of criminal cases. As per the new feature, whenever a Government Prosecutor seeks an adjournment in a criminal case more than twice, the system has a provision to send an alert to senior officers.
- Cri-MAC (Crime Multi Agency Center) was implemented on 12 March 2020. Cri-MAC facility has been introduced for police stations and higher offices in all States/UTs to share information on heinous crime and other issues related to coordination in cases of inter-state crime. It can be used to spread alerts / information on crime and inter-state criminals to the States/UTs through email and SMS.
- The Modus Operandi (MO) records available in the Crime and Criminal Tacking & Network Systems (CCTNS) and the e-Prisons applications can be accessed by the investigating officers online across the country. This feature can act as a vital investigative aid for police officers. The Bureau of Police research and Development (BPR&D) has setup a Modus Operandi Bureau (MOB) to conduct research.
- NCRB has launched three new Central Citizen Services on digitalpolicecitizenservice.gov.in portal that can be accessed online These services include:
- Missing Person Search
- Generate Vehicle NOC
- Proclaimed offenders
- Two National level automatic alert services have been launched that generate and send alerts to concerned police stations on missing & found person and missing & found vehicle matches.
- Criminal Network Link Analysis module developed under ICJS.
- NCRB has also launched an automated photo matching web-based application UNIFY that uses Machine learning model to enable police personnel to search the photographs of missing persons/ criminals/ unidentified dead bodies against the national image repository in CCTNS.
- 26627 VPN certificates issued to Law Enforcement Officers in States/UTs including RPF, NIA, CBI etc.
- Integration with other Government Databases
Data from other national databases are also available for search on the ICJS platform, such as Arms License Informatics System (ALIS), Trackchild – KhoyaPaya, National Cyber-Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP), Immigration Visa and Foreigners Registration Tracking System (IVFRT), Vahan & Sarathi, Railway Protection Force (RPF), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Article Credit: Ministry of Home Affairs Link
NAFIS has created a central database of fingerprints of criminals. It is developed by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) at the Central Fingerprint Bureau (CFPB). NAFIS assigns a unique 10-digit National Fingerprint Number (NFN) to each person arrested for a crime. This unique ID will be used for the person’s lifetime, and different crimes registered under different FIRs will be linked to the same NFN. The first two digits of the ID will be the state code of the state where the criminal is registered, followed by a sequence number.
Significances:
- Fingerprint Storage: NAFIS stores digital representations of fingerprints obtained from various sources, including criminal suspects,individuals applying for certain government services, and individuals in various databases.
- Identification: When law enforcement agencies need to identify an individual, they can submit a fingerprint sample to NAFIS. The system then compares the submitted fingerprint against the database to find potential matches.
- Criminal Investigations: NAFIS plays a crucial role in criminal investigations. It can help identify suspects, link crimes to specific individuals, and provide important evidence in court cases.
National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS) has been established at 1022 locations across the country (As on 30th November 2023):
- Districts/ Other Police Units : 840
- Commissionerate : 74
- Central law Enforcement Agencies : 70
- Central Finger Print Bureau : 2
- Finger Print Bureaus of States/ Union Territories : 36
Development of Forensic Science Laboratory
In 1952, the First state forensic science laboratory was established in Calcutta, which became fully operational in 1953. This laboratory also incorporated the medico-legal section of the chemical examiner’s laboratory. Later, more state forensic science laboratories were set up in different parts of the country.
In 1957 Central Forensic Science Laboratory Kolkata under the aegis of Intelligence Bureau and shifted to BPR&D in 1973. In 1997 the 1st DNA Analysis Unit was established in this laboratory. In 1998 CFSL Kolkata was declared as Center of excellence in Biological Science. Since 2002 it is administered by Directorate of Forensic Science Services (DFSS) .
In 1967 Central Forensic Science Laboratory Hyderabad was established under the Intelligence Bureau and was brought under the administrative control of Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPR&D) in 1973.Since 2002, the laboratory is under the direct control of the Directorate of Forensic Science Services.
In 1968, the Central Forensic Science Laboratory was established in New Delhi under the ministry of home affairs. This laboratory provided specialized services in areas such as ballistics, explosives, physics, chemistry, biology, serology, documents, lie detection, voice identification, and photography. CFSL, Delhi (brought under the Administrative control of DFSS from CBI) 2022.