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Journalism of Courage
The Bombay High Court earlier this month sought to know from the Maharashtra Government how many cases were pending with the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) units in Mumbai and Thane for the last five years. The court passed a direction in a plea raising concerns over the delay in receiving FSL reports in cybercrime investigations, among other cases.
A bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Advait M Sethna on December 16 passed an order on a plea by EduEdge Pro Pvt Ltd, represented by its Director Dr Amarjeet Singh, argued through advocate Himanshu Kode, seeking the transfer of an FIR registered with the Bandra Police Station to an independent investigating agency, such as the Cyber Cell or the Crime Branch of the Mumbai police.
EduEdge Pro, a global EdTech institute, had reported that a former senior executive allegedly stole sensitive company data, used it to create a competing skill-development firm, and defrauded her previous employer.
In September this year, the bench had emphasised the urgent need for FSL reports in criminal cases and had directed the state home department to approve funding within a month for the establishment of a “Centre of Excellence in Digital Forensic”.
On December 16, V B Konde-Deshmukh, Additional Public Prosecutor, submitted a December 13 letter of the Director, Directorate of Forensic Science Laboratories, which stated that steps were taken to remove the existing pendency in the Cyber division.
It was further stated that for the removal of the pendency of the Cyber Division, two projects were undertaken. The letter added that administrative approval for a ‘semi-automatic’ project had been received from the Home Department for the purchase of tools, materials, and equipment and the work order had been issued to implement the said project. It was submitted that infrastructure work for the said project was speedily going on and the same will take four weeks to get completed.
Moreover, the letter stated that administrative approval for procurement of necessary equipment and personnel for establishing ‘Center of Excellence in Digital Forensic’ was obtained and work order for the same was issued on October 4 and hardware and software for it was received and the project shall be implemented soon. The state home department also gave a nod for the payment of ‘mobilisation advance’ for both projects.
The court was informed that Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) had been roped in to fill 125 class-3 posts at FSL and the recruitment process was underway. The letter also mentioned that whenever any court issues orders seeking Chemical Analyser (CA) reports, the authority will take the cases for analysis out of turn on a high-priority basis and will comply with the court orders.
The bench sought pendency data from the state lawyer and posted further hearing to January 29.
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