Guwahati, September 1 (IANS): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday asserted that the state government has prepared mobile forensic vans intending to increase the conviction rates of criminals in the state.
He said: "It is often seen that under-trials accused of serious criminal offences go scot-free owing to lack of adequate evidence to support the conviction. The mobile forensic vans, equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and tools, will help the law enforcement agencies reach crime scenes at the earliest and would enable the investigators to collect and securely preserve crucial pieces of evidence and ensure the same is not contaminated."
The Chief Minister flagged off seven mobile forensic vans here and mentioned that these are the first batch and that more such vans will be given to the police force very soon.
He exuded confidence the mobile forensic vans flagged off on Thursday shall contribute immensely towards Assam Police's forensic evidence collection capabilities which in turn would lead to a significant increase in conviction rates in days to come.
Moreover, adequate numbers of resource persons and forensic experts shall be allocated for each of these vans, he said.
A greater number of such mobile forensic vehicles shall be provided to law enforcement agencies in days to come, the Chief Minister added.
Speaking about the importance of forensic evidence in convictions under the criminal justice system, Sarma said a robust forensic science regime must be in place in the state to deal with crimes ranging from murder to drug trafficking, to name a few.
"It is keeping this objective in mind that the government decided to establish four regional forensic science laboratories across the state of which three are already operating," he added.
Notably, as many as 400 police personnel from the state police force are being trained at the Ahmedabad-based National Forensic Science University on forensic science.
Sarma said: "The expertise they gained through the training would prove immensely helpful in solving complex cases requiring the application of sophisticated forensic science techniques."
