A Clarion Call for the Use of Forensic Scientific Techniques in Criminal Investigation and Law in India

  • Ria Juneja
  • Show Author Details
  • Ria Juneja

    Assistant Professor at ICFAI Law School, Dehradun, India.

  • img Download Full Paper

Abstract

Why do most people obey the law? Why do they usually accept judicial decisions? Social psychology research indicates that people obey the law and accept judicial decisions as long as they believe that the procedures and the laws are fair and just. The nature of crimes has undergone many changes, but for their investigation, agencies are still following age-old procedures. Even in heinous crimes, a large number of criminals are not prosecuted and many trials end in acquittal as a result of which the number of criminals as well as crimes is increasing day by day. For a just trial, where the guilty is punished according to law, an investigation without any loophole is a necessity. Since 1980s, significant social, legal, and scientific changes in the criminal justice system have occurred. The discipline of forensic science has altered the socio-gram of the law-science interface. Forensic science aims to produce knowledge and find facts as the foundation for justice, with solitary purpose of assisting the judges to evaluate the evidential task. It comprises of all prominent techniques such as DNA-Sequencer, High-Speed Ballistic Photography, Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), Magnetic Fingerprinting, Automated Fingerprint Identification (AFIS) and many more. Criminal investigations must be performed through technical succor to decide on whether a crime has been committed or not; when, how, and by whom. Keen investigation in the detection of crime is an important step in the administration of justice; hence investigations must be prompt, fair and impartial. This research paper will mainly be focusing on the analysis of forensic scientific techniques and how forensic science infers the rule of law and enhances the criminal justice system. Further, the paper emphasizes on the importance of utilization of the discipline during legal investigations in India which however has failed to achieve the desired goal, and henceforth needs reconsideration.

Type

Research Paper

Information

International Journal of Law Management and Humanities, Volume 5, Issue 4, Page 828 - 835

DOI: https://doij.org/10.10000/IJLMH.113394

Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution -NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits remixing, adapting, and building upon the work for non-commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © IJLMH 2021