Forensic labs told to follow ethics code

Concerned over the increasing distortion of evidence by law enforcing agencies, the Union Home Ministry has issued a 8220;code of ethics8221; to all forensic laboratories in the country...

Concerned over the increasing distortion of evidence by law enforcing agencies, the Union Home Ministry has issued a 8220;code of ethics8221; to all forensic laboratories in the country, which clearly bars acceptance of cases outside their jurisdiction without permission of competent authorities.

All laboratories under the central and state governments have been directed to adhere to five guidelines that seek to put a halt to fudging of evidence by police. In many cases, it was noticed that physical clues of criminal cases that were referred to two or more laboratories were not portions of the same sample. This has led to differences of opinion among the laboratories, often resulting in the acquittal of the culprit.

An official at North Block cited the Anara Gupta sex scandal case which had two different versions from the laboratories in Hyderabad and Chandigarh. The Hyderabad laboratory8217;s claim that the CD sent by the police did not contain the pictures of the former Miss Jammu was contrasted by the Chandigarh laboratory which maintained that pictures were delivered.

The home ministry has asked all laboratories not to accept cases from a different state without the permission of the state government. Samples referred through courts should have the seal of the first forensic laboratory that had examined the case initially which should also not be a separate sample seal given by the investigating agency. Central Forensic Science Laboratories will have to seek permission of the Directorate of Forensic Sciences DFS before beginning the investigation for a case.

The guidelines now make it mandatory for the investigating officer to obtain permission from a senior officer not below the rank of a superintendent for referral of cases. The officer will also have to certify that the sample sent for re-examination has been received from the laboratory that had examined the case earlier. Further, if the samples to be examined are different from the previous one that could result from resampling from the scene of crime, then it should be treated as a fresh case rather than a case of re-examination.

If the findings by two laboratories are in contrast with each other, they will be examined by a committee constituted by the DFS under the home ministry and give its views regarding the cause of the difference of opinions.

An official explained that the 8220;code of ethics8221; was issued after it was found that earlier instructions given by the Bureau of Police Research and Development BPR038;D were not strictly followed by the laboratories. He said henceforth monitoring would be done on a regular basis and anomalies reported to concerned authorities immediately.