TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: It is said that justice delayed is justice denied. And in today’s high-tech world forensic examination is a very important part of the investigation. But in Goa, with all its drug-related issues and deaths due to drugs, even after one-and-half years of its initial launch and the arrival of most of its machinery a couple of months back, the State Forensic Science Laboratory at Verna is still not functioning. And, this time the delay, after the installation of machinery, is due to lack of earthing.
As of now there are 600 viscera samples pending analysis from 2006.
According to officials the foreign-based company that delivered the machinery has refused to refund money in case the equipment develops snags during installation without following proper technical steps. The Police Department had approached the PWD to fix it but they too refused citing they did not have any domain knowledge about the same.
The project, mooted during the Congress-led regime was hit by red-tapism for several years and partial functioning of the state-of-art forensic laboratory began only in 2012.
Its associated wings including Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Toxicology and other labs under the same roof was set up recently as the Goa police waited for sophisticated equipments to conduct chemical analysis of viscera samples. The fingerprints bureau, which is also one of the units, was the first to function, much even before the forensic laboratory took shape.
Now, with the equipment all in place, the earthing has created problems, leading to further delay in the functioning of the laboratory.
To make matters worse, company officials have communicated that they will not take responsibility of possible damages if Goa Police goes ahead with temporary connection to carry out forensic examinations. “The company will not give us warranty if the equipment was installed and connected without proper detailing. Senior officers therefore took a decision to invite experts since any malfunction in the instruments would put the government in a loss of several crores of rupees,” a police official said.
A tender has, however, not been issued till date with Goa police yet to get approval from the government. “It is certain to take a long time,” conceded the officer.
The government set up the Goa FSL to examine and analyse crime scene exhibits, physical evidence submitted by investigating officers or agencies and issue examination reports.
As the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in Hyderabad and other FSLs across the country were not entertaining the State, Goa recently signed a MoU with the Karnataka government to enable Goa police to send viscera samples to the laboratory at Bangalore, for chemical analysis.
There is a silver lining, however, as the cost per sample – Rs 2000 – is cheaper compared to Rs 15,000 charged by CFSL, Hyderabad. Moreover, the Bangalore FSL has agreed to examine 180 exhibits per month.
