Investigations in over a thousand criminal cases across the state have been stalled as Forensic Science Lab (FSL) which provides crucial link in the process of investigation has been chronically understaffed to the extent of complete dysfunction.
Kashmir Images learnt that close to 1500 cases are pending in Forensic Science Laboratory Jammu as the department has been facing severe shortage of technical manpower. "We are trying to clear the backlog by sharing each other’s work. But for certain kinds of tests, we need qualified people and technical experts,” Director FSL Inayat Ullah Khan said. While 14 posts of scientific experts are lying vacant in the department for years, there is only one paleography expert for the entire state. 6 posts of Dy. Directors and a post of Joint Director is also vacant, leaving the important department completely defunct.
Reacting to delay in producing FSL reports in criminal cases, Dy. Director H.C Bhagat told Kashmir Images that, over 40 % employees are retired in FSL Jammu and there is no substitute of Fingerprints experts, documents and paleography labs experts which have important technical jobs to perform. “Since 1983 there have been no new recruitments in the department” he informed. “There is huge influx of cases with rise in crime rate and increase in number of reported cases, but we are facing difficulty in keeping pace due to scant staff ”, he further added.
Interestingly, FSL directly comes under state Ministry of Home and reports to Director General of Police (DG) even as many a cases pending with it involve men and officers of police itself. Reacting to the allegations that police has been deliberately delaying certain cases in the garb of FSL reports, Bhagat said “technically, FSL should be an independent institution however, investigations are done without any bias and we take up the sensitive cases on priority”.
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Kashmirimagesjammu.com
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