SC makes viscera test must in deaths due to poisoning The suspicion that poisoning could have led to Sunanda Pushkars death will now force Delhi Police to send the preserved viscera for forensic test as the Supreme Court has made it mandatory for the investigating agency to seek such scientific report before completing the probe. The court took serious note of a number of cases relating to death by poisoning which resulted in acquittal mainly because police failed to seek a viscera examination from forensic science laboratories (FSL). It said, These scientific tests are of vital importance to a criminal case, particularly when the witnesses are increasingly showing a tendency to turn hostile. In its judgment on a case on Tuesday, a bench of Justices Ranjana P Desai and J Chelameswar said, We must note that this is the third case which this court has noticed in a short span of two months where, in a case of suspected poisoning, viscera report is not brought on record. We express our extreme displeasure about the way in which such serious cases are dealt with. We wonder whether these lapses are the result of inadvertence or they are a calculated move to frustrate the prosecution. While acquitting a man of the charge of causing death of his wife by poisoning, the bench said, In the instant case, all those witnesses who spoke about poisoning turned hostile. Had the viscera report been on record and the case of poisoning was true, the prosecution would have been on still firmer grounds. Writing the judgment for the bench, Justice Desai said, We direct that in cases where poisoning is suspected, immediately after the post-mortem, the viscera should be sent to the FSL. The prosecuting agencies should ensure that the viscera is, in fact, sent to the FSL for examination and the FSL should ensure that the viscera is examined immediately and report is sent to the investigating agencies/courts post haste. While making it mandatory for the police to seek FSL report on viscera, the bench also asked the trial courts to ensure that such report is brought on record. If the viscera report is not received, the concerned court must ask for explanation and must summon the concerned officer of the FSL to give an explanation as to why the viscera report is not forwarded to the investigating agency/court, it said. The apex court directed that a copy of the ruling be sent to all high courts with a direction to circulate the same to all subordinate criminal courts, to the director of prosecution, to the secretary, ministry of home affairs, to the secretary, home department and to the director, forensic science laboratory within the jurisdiction of the HCs. The court found that it was not mandatory under existing law for the police to seek FSL report of viscera examination in a case where death is suspected due to poisoning.
Posted on: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 05:01:50 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015