The Uttar Pradesh State Institute of Forensic Sciences (UPSIFS) on Sunday held a conference highlighting the role of forensic aid in facilitating legal representation, fair investigation and trial for both the victims and the accused. The conference, titled 'Forensic Aid: Enabling Right to Fair Trial & Legal Aid' at the state police headquarters in Lucknow, was attended by the judges of the Allahabad High Court, legal luminaries, forensic experts, police officers and academics. UPSIFS founder director and IPS officer GK Goswami said that at the behest of the institution, the state government has decided to launch BSc forensic science LLB 5-year integrated degree course, a unique programme, from the next session. He emphasised the role of forensic aid in the administration of justice. “This programme communicates the role of forensic aid in advancing the right to have legal representation, fair investigation and trial, for both the victim and the accused, an inalienable part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution,” said Goswami. Justice Attau Rahman Masoodi of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court, who was the Chief guest at the event, spoke about the “intertwined description of scientific investigation and fair trial”. The person in conflict with the law must be treated as a patient and not just a criminal, he said. Prof Anup Surendranath from the National Law University, Delhi, highlighted “the grim statistics of death sentence pronounced by the Indian courts”. “I have revealed in my work that nearly 40 per cent cases of death penalty get reversed to acquittal during the appeal stage. It is alarming and poorly reflects on the compromised quality of evidence”.
