No wonder, agencies are deliberately allowing the Forensic Science Laboratory remaining paralyzed for the reason of vested interests. In an era when the crime of various patterns is on the rise and when the militancy related criminal activities are on a spurt, non-functioning FSL becomes a windfall for the criminals. The Government is not serious in expediting the cases against a large number of criminals and even the High Court has also expressed its displeasure on inordinate delay in producing FSL reports in various criminal cases.
It is intriguing that the laboratory is headless since the post of the Director is lying vacant for a long time. Incidentally the Deputy Director who has been placed in charge of the laboratory is not a qualified scientist in the profession and enjoys the favour and patronage of concerned superiors to remain stay put in his present position. BJP MLC CM Ambardar took up the issue vigorously during question hour in the Upper House and pilloried the Home Department for undermining the importance and significance of the FSL so much so that some members from opposition besides the ruling party joined their voice with that of the MLC in castigating the Government for criminal negligence in making the FSL functional. In an editorial in this paper published some weeks ago we had pointed out that the FSL has become the holiday home for some of the blue eyed police personnel who get them posted to it and their officers oblige them. We had also pointed out that the authorities are not having any vision of creating the second line of forensic experts who would take over when the senior’s experts will be retiring soon. In absence of second line of experts, the FSL may face crisis of sorts. We had exhorted the Government to rise to this urgent need nut it seems that our exhortation has fallen on deaf ears. Now that the BJP MLC has taken up the issue vigorously let us hope that the Government will open its eyes and ears and take steps to make the FSL functional. At present, for forensic reports the State has to refer the samples to FSL Calcutta and then wait for months at end to receive the results. When the Court or the Police have to wait for months at end for the forensic reports to come, the court as well as the Police Department loses the momentum for quick disposal of criminal cases. Cases pile up, justice is delayed, workload increases and then all this lead to incompetent governance and management.
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