Filling the Gap: Investigation-Conviction An analysis of Criminal Investigation system in India
Criminal
Judicial system of any country more or less is dependent on the investigation
report which have direct link with crime conviction ratio. There may be various
reasons for poor conviction ratio like shortage of police force, delayed
reporting of the cases, long judicial trial, unavailability of evidence etc.
The last one is directly related with the investigation. However, there may be
various reasons for non availability of evidence, because evidence includes
both oral and documentary evidence. In regard to oral evidence there are two
types of evidence first the statement of accused himself and second one is the
statements of witnesses. Right to remain
silent is major hurdle in respect to statement of accused and on other side
lackness of administrative or judicial support in regard to other witnesses. So
basically the police have to depend on other sources of evidence which are
generally collected from crime scene. Selection and collection of evidence are
two different things, first is decided on the basis of knowledge of substantive
law but second requires practical knowledge. Analysis of the police recruitment
system in India reveals that there is no basic requirement of
scientific/practical knowledge in police appointment. Generally evidence is collected
by untrained junior investigating officers who cause damage of evidence or
minimize its evidentiary vale because of various scientific reasons.
The application of science and
technology to the detection and investigation is not new in India. In Kautilya’S
Arthshastra we find the mention of
study of various patterns of papillary lines which is somehow linked with
persistency and individuality of fingerprints. The fingerprint was in general
use of as signature which was considered as substantive piece of evidence
especially in civil matter. Crime record is increasing day by day and same time
conviction ratio is stable. Our
investigators are lagging much behind because they took good amount of time to
solve the case. Reason for this may be many like defective recruitment process,
shortage of skilled investigating officers, shortage of regular training
workshop etc.
This research paper elucidates the lacunas in the present
Crime investigating and for this purpose case examples will be adduced in order
to give different picture of failure and loop holes in the investigation system
in India. The author mainly deals with reason for unskilled and unscientific
investigation, consequences of such unskilled and unscientific investigation,
forensic tools available for the investigation purposes.
Key
words: Investigation, Forensic science, Scientific investigation, Evidence.
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