Dr Satendra Yadav says that crime investigators in India lack the most critical element which is crime scene documentation; Advanced Forensic Workforce is the need of the hour.
New Delhi: Forensic science is an integral and critical element of a fair and effective criminal justice system. It helps in strengthening the prosecution and, in turn, increasing conviction rates of crime cases. Unfortunately in India, there are several cases that remain unsolved and are disposed of due to lack of evidence. This is observed so many times that there are many court cases pending with endless wait of forensic reports for years, in turn, delaying justice. Thus, Delayed Forensics is Justice Denied says Dr Satendra Yadav who has worked on several crime cases, from Kolkata’s Bagree market fire in 2018, Indian Oil Corporation major fire in Navi Mumbai in 2011, Sabarmati Jail Break case of Gujarat, to 2018 Sunjuwan terrorist attack case of J&K in India, to international cases like the Indonesia Cathedral Suicide Bombing case, Uganda Makerere University Fire case, Lebanon Beirut Blast case, Kenya Nairobi terrorist attack, Notre-Dame Cathedral fire. The Sunday Guardian tried to understand more in-depth from him about forensics and the delay hampers crime investigation.
“We Indians consume about forensics especially watching TV shows like CID which shows testing and investigating inside laboratories, but that’s not the only case,” says Dr Yadav, who “breathes” forensics. “It’s not about collecting the samples and bringing them back and analyzing in laboratories for months to know the reality, but then it’s all that you investigate at site that brings you near the criminals. Once any investigator enters the crime scene, documentation is the most important thing that the investigator has to do. 3D crime scene documentation helps to the job in a better way. Later, taking biometrics to DNA profiling, photographs, understanding the crime scene—maximum number of things should be done at site so that 90% of analysis is done on site. Technology can be used to eliminate most of the doubts and to reduce the workload of samples sent to the laboratories. The crime scene gives major clue during an investigation—the environment and temperature of crime scene matters, if a scene is indoors, things can be preserved better; if outdoor, then evidence is more exposed to the external environment. For solving any crime scene, the first step is to document the evidence, know the right position and dimension in the crime scene, know the environment as temperatures play a critical role. The second thing observed is about collecting all samples and sending it to laboratories. “There are techniques, there are DNA kits where you get results within one hour from the site, there are FTIR, Handheld Ramans, Handheld NMRs, those are chemistry technology that is non-destructive and can tell you what material it is, what is the strength, what’s the metal inside starting from jewellery to drugs, what signature of drug it has. Forensic science is not science, but the application of all the other sciences to solve crimes. Any application is generated via which we can analyze them via forensic technology. Similarly for Crime Scene Documentation–3D scanning documentation came from engineering where construction people were documenting their buildings, the minor details to understand how stable the building is, its verticality now the same technology is transferred to forensic laboratories to capture the crime scene,” says Dr Yadav.
India is way behind as a developing country in Forensic Yard even after having the same amount of budget allotted to this field and having equipped vehicles and techniques. It’s just that lack of application, execution, and functioning that holds back the country. Dr Yadav says, “Crime investigators in India lack the most critical element—that’s crime scene documentation; they bring everything to the laboratory even when crime scene rapid kits are available where rapid DNA test can be done on the crime scene in one hour, In 20 minutes, one can find the drug used in drug cases, 10 minutes for documentation. But what happens is that samples are collected from the site and then taken to the laboratory and the wait starts for results for days and months. This is the reason why any case that should be solved in just one or two days maximum by any investigator takes years to get solved. With a Biometric System like Aadhaar which other countries also have things should become easier. There has to be synced Biometric databases of fingerprints that help in solving the case than delaying the case.”
There are more than 100 plus Mobile Forensic Vehicles all across India, but are used as police cars and not for the purpose they were purchased for, investigators don’t want to upgrade their skills, observes Dr Yadav who has been training several state police in India. “Like for example, Bihar Police has 6 3D Crime Scene Scanners never used on crime scenes, In Rajasthan police, there are 3, but never being used, in Hyderabad police, there are 2 crime scene scanners, except 4 or 5 crime scenes, they are never being used. In Gujarat, the director in Forensic Science was one among the world’s 10 police departments to use 3D scanners in 2012, after that no one used after the director left and it’s gathering dust in the department for the last 10 years now—because one person learns the technology and nobody next takes the pain to learn it. Similarly, there are several police departments across India that are not documenting the crime scene. During the infamous Sushant Singh Rajput case, I noticed that the basics of crime investigation had been lacking. For that matter, 99% of cases in India and other developing nations lack crime scene documentation.”
Dr Yadav shares how some top international cases are solved because of strong crime scene documentation, especially 3D Crime documentation: 1) Notre-Dame Cathedral Fire: A fire that broke out beneath the roof of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral in Paris where the building’s spire collapsed, most of its roof destroyed severely damaging upper wall. 3D documentation helped in investigating the case and restoring it. Cathedral was pre-documented in 2015 and later after the fire broke out, was documented again with critical infrastructure, actual scans of the building. The pre- and post 3D scanning was done, thus we got to know the changes, and solve the case. 2) Uganda Makerere University Fire case: A fire gutted an iconic building at Uganda’s Makerere University which is a UNESCO world heritage site built in 1922. It is also a prominent landmark in the capital also known as the “Ivory Tower”, an overnight blaze had left its distinctive white walls with blue-shuttered windows blackened. I joined the Uganda Police as a trainer and within two days of the crime scene, a report was submitted on how much was the devastation, what was the cause of fire etc, all documented well due to 3D scanning crime scene. It was a short circuit fire that destroyed the whole heritage. 3) Same for the Lebanon Beirut Blast case: The blast that physically shook the whole country of Lebanon. On 4 August 2020, a large amount of ammonium nitrate stored at the Port of Beirut in the capital city of Lebanon exploded, causing at least 218 deaths, 7,000 injuries, and US$15 billion in property damage, and leaving an estimated 300,000 people homeless. Such massive blast to understand the massive impact of the blast and are neighbouring buildings safe to occupy for this 3D scanning was used to understand their verticality, stability and a report was submitted wihiin four hours of receiving data. Likewise, several big cases of murders have been solved and all in a better way due to crime scene documentation.