Centre creating secure, evidence-based criminal justice system across India: Shah - The Statesman

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that the central government is working to establish a network of Forensic…

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that the central government is working to establish a network of Forensic Science Laboratories across India by forming clusters of 3–4 states to

make their criminal justice systems evidence-based.

Shah, after inaugurating a new building of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in Kolkata, said that the Government of India is working with a vision to build a secure,

transparent, and evidence-based criminal justice system in the country.

Talking about the newly built Forensic Science Laboratory in Kolkata, the minister said it would help West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, Assam, Sikkim, and all the states of the

Northeast in developing an evidence-based criminal justice system and in fulfilling the role with a holistic approach.

The Kolkata FSL, built at a cost of ₹88 crore, will play a significant role in understanding, adopting, and delivering the importance of evidence, forensic science, and securing convictions

to every police station. It will also help in the implementation of India’s three new criminal laws, Shah added.

He said that with this cluster approach, a campaign will be launched from January 2026 to take forensic science down to the police station level, to establish its importance as evidence in

every court, and to make every investigating officer in police stations understand its significance.

Through this, the criminal justice system will be transformed from being based on argument to being evidence-based, ensuring that the guilty do not benefit from the benefit of doubt and that

justice is delivered to the victim.

Shah said the entire process is possible only when police stations, public prosecutors, and courts understand its importance, adopt it, and prioritise it in their functioning.

The minister said that in the 21st century, when our transactions, communication, identity, and basic details are all being stored in one place, the nature of crime is also changing rapidly.

He said it is very important that those who prevent crime stay two steps ahead of the criminals, and if we do not use science and clear laws in this effort, we cannot stay ahead of the

criminals.

He stated that major financial scams are now being exposed through forensic audits, and our criminal justice system is entering a new era.

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) are laws made by the Parliament elected by the people of India to

protect the constitutional rights of the people of India, he said, terming the progress a revolutionary change in the direction of delivering justice to the people, as now the guilty will

not be able to escape due to lack of evidence.

He added that these laws have already incorporated and defined all potential technological changes that may occur in the next 100 years.

Shah said that the new criminal laws have provided a legal basis for the use of technology in crime scene investigation and trial.

He stated that in offences punishable with more than seven years of imprisonment, the visit of a forensic science team has been made mandatory.

The minister said that 16 campuses of the National Forensic Science University (NFSU) have been approved, 7 have been established, and the rest are in process.