Forensic reform on the cards: Assam govt rolls out new initiatives

Guwahati, Nov. 17: Forensic science is a vital component of crime detection and the Assam government has started a series of initiative to improve forensic facilities in the State. The National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) is also likely to set up a campus in the State soon.

Talking to The Assam Tribune, Director General of Assam Police GP Singh said that since 2021, at the initiative of the Chief Minister, a lot of work has been done to improve the forensic infrastructure of Assam. The government has set up regional forensic sciences laboratories at Silchar, Tezpur, Dibrugarh, Bongaigaon and they are in different stages of operationalisation.

"We have signed MoU with NFSU for setting up a campus in Assam where courses would be run on forensic sciences. The students passing out from this institute would fill the newly created posts of forensic scientists not only in Assam but in other parts of the North-east as well," the DGP said.

The Assam Police has also tied up with the NFSU to train 500 police officers as crime scene officers. Around 200 such officers have already been trained and the rest are being trained in a phased manner. These officers would ensure that initial examination of a crime scene is done scientifically and their samples, etc., are collected properly to have best results from FSL.

For DNA profiling and matching, we have tied up with the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostic (CDFD), Hyderabad to have state-of-the-art facilities for DNA extraction, profiling and matching. The Assam Police has engaged a forensic expert as consultant to ensure that police officers are updated on best current practices and the labs are also suitably upgraded.

Singh revealed that the entire process of collection of samples, storage, sending to FSL and receipt, etc., is being tied up with block-chain technology so that errors are minimised. A portal has been created to ensure that investigating officers do not have to visit the FSL lab to collect reports.

The process of uploading reports online has started where the ASP (Crime) gets an SMS update.

The government has also approved tying up with government and private labs outside Assam to enable early completion of examination and reduce pendency. The process has started and is likely to show results in the coming months. In any case, with BSS, BNSS and BSA coming into force, forensic science has been brought to the centre of the investigative process.

It may safely be said that the improvement in investigation and prosecution of crimes would lead to a safer society in Assam in the years to come. These are institutional structural changes that would alter the policing parameters substantially. They are also likely to change the SDG indices of Assam in the coming years.

It goes without saying that an improved L&O situation by reducing militancy and improving the criminal justice system would lead to greater prosperity emanating from higher investments, improved productivity and better returns on the investments, the DGP added.

- By R Dutta Choudhury