Delay in getting viscera chemical analysis leads to acquittal of accused: Former GMC Forensic Department head

Team Herald

PANJIM: While it is the Forensic Department that bears the brunt whenever a heinous crime accused gets acquitted by the court, it is in fact procedural delays on part of investigating agency in submitting the crucial evidences like viscera chemical analysis report within a stipulated time before the trial court magistrate results in weakening of the case, informed Dr Silvano Sapeco, former head of the Department of Forensic Medicine, GMC.

“In cases like rape or murder, when the accused gets acquitted, the doctors in the forensic medicine department are made the sacrificial lambs. Ideally speaking whenever the viscera is collected for chemical analysis, the report must be prepared in two weeks time and hand it over to the investigating officer for producing it in the trial court,” Dr Sapeco said.

 “But it is sad that it takes not only beyond six weeks but even much more than that. This dereliction of duty or this omission is certainly beneficial to the accused persons,” Dr Sapeco said.

When asked what does the system gain by not preserving the viscera or delaying the viscera chemical analysis report since it weakens the case, Dr Sapeco said, “We don’t value the importance of submitting the crucial evidences in time. If the viscera chemical analysis is not completed in two weeks, the quality of the report suffers. Only when the case results in acquittal, we tend to see vested motives in the public prosecutor, or the trial judge or the appellate High Court judge. But actually the damage is already been done,” he said.

Speaking at the weekly Herald TV debate Point-Counterpoint, the former HoD of Forensic Department at GMC informed that for many years Goa didn’t have its own forensic lab. 

The viscera and other body fluid samples used to be sent to Hyderabad or Delhi.

“We follow a unique style in Goa. We prepare the report on the same day and submit it to the investigating agency along with the sealed chemical analysis report of the viscera, biles, urine and any other body fluids desired, along with the clothes material and serological test report. After that it is between him and his authority,” Dr Sapeco said.

Earlier the samples used to be preserved in Verna. The then officer-in-charge on his own was coordinating with the forensic science lab at Colina sometimes in Kolkata and Hyderabad to ensure that the report would come. But invariably due to bureaucratic red-tapeism this would get delayed.

“To get a viscera dispatch order, police needs a demand draft. After the DD is sanctioned a police escort team is needed to take it to the concerned destination. All this causes immense delay in getting the chemical analysis report in time. In my entire career, I’ve never got a viscera report in 15 days, which is the outer limit for a good report,” the forensic expert said.

Ruing lack of coordination between police and forensic team, Dr Sapeco said that it is important that the police investigation team takes a forensic doctor and visit the site of crime. But it doesn’t happen.

“This omission is going on for since 2008 till today. They don’t want to work in the spirit of teamwork. Somebody should bell the cat,” he said.

 Citing an example Dr Sapeco said, “I remember asking the top official of both the executive and investigating agency to let me escort them to show the drugs angle in a murder case having suspected involvement of drugs.  Every house in the coastal belt, having 6 to 9 metre height is having drugs inside. Obviously there’s somebody who is protecting them.”

He said that the matter was brought to the notice of police by him way back in the 1990s. 

“But it was allowed to remain as it is and these houses are being used for storing drugs. Once in a blue moon whenever the houses are raided some small quantity of narcotics seized and that’s the end of the story,” he said. 

Dr Sapeco said that it is very easy to target the doctors. But the issue is nobody takes note of the procedural lacunae that leads to falling of a case in trial Court. Ideally the crime scene should be completely screened, educe the evidence and after that only send the dead body for autopsy. But this is not happening. In fact this is beneficial to the accused persons and they manage to get acquitted.

“It is important that today all of us have to be united. It is easy to crush the doctors GMC consultants and head of departments are not united,” he said.