The Study Of Forensic Science In The Context Of The Code Of Criminal Procedure And Evidence Act

Author: LawSphereX

Category: Criminal Law

Published: 2026-08-23T21:32:49.21119+00:00

Updated: 2026-08-30T07:05:40.560Z

THE STUDY OF FORENSIC SCIENCE IN THE CONTEXT OF

THE CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE AND EVIDENCE ACT Satakshi Dubey, Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad Pawan Preet Singh, Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the compatibility of forensic science with the Indian legal framework and more emphasis has been given to the Code of Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act (CPC and Evidence Act). Through the comprehensive analysis this research will focus the correlation between forensic evidence admissibility and legal provisions, emphasizing its impact on justice delivery; the identification of challenges like infrastructure inadequacy and training deficiencies affecting forensic evidence collection, preservation, and presentation, thus compromising reliability; and proposing reforms within the CPC and Evidence Act to enhance forensic evidence utilization, aiming to improve fairness and efficiency in the criminal justice system. Integrating criminal justice and forensic science for legal analysis will offer valuable insights on optimizing forensic evidence utilization in India.

Keywords: Forensic science, Indian legal framework, Code of Criminal Procedure (CPC), Evidence Act and Justice Delivery.

INTRODUCTION

Forensic is a word which is derived from a Latin word “forensic” which means “relating to court of law. ” Therefore forensic science means the scientific discipline which helps the court of law to reach a certain conclusion. The study of forensic science within the context of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (referred to as CrPC) and Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (referred to as IEA) has an important role in running the criminal justice system smoothly. Investigating officer or agencies can only operates forensic investigation whether it is collecting, preserving or presenting, etc as per the provisions of the CrPC and IEA. India’s growth in the field of forensic science from the past few years is fabulous but still there are many challenges and limitation which stop it to reach its full potential.

Due to these challenges authorities are not in position to investigate properly and there are many chances that during this time period the evidence can be hampered. Forensic science is the most important in the modern criminal investigation and court proceedings. Forensic science also provides a scientific and logical back to the facts and evidences produced before the court. This makes the evidences and facts produced more reliable. However, in India admissibility of forensic evidences has always been debatable, its admissibility and usage before the court is not fixed and has always faced various challenges. This paper focuses on the potential reforms and amendments to the existing legal framework, to address the challenges and improvement in the role of forensic science in India, including the criminal procedure code and Indian evidence act RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. How does the admissibility of forensic evidence in Indian courts align with the

provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act, and what are the implications for the delivery of justice?

2. What are the key challenges and limitations associated with the collection, preservation,

and presentation of forensic evidence within the Indian legal system, and how do they impact the reliability and effectiveness of forensic science in criminal investigations?

3. What reforms or amendments to the existing legal framework, including the Code of

Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act, could enhance the admissibility and utilization of forensic evidence in Indian courts, and how might these reforms contribute to improving the fairness and efficiency of the criminal justice system?

RESEARCH

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of writing this research paper are:

1. To highlight the importance of forensic science in criminal investigation.

2. To understand the challenges related to various aspects of forensic science and propose

recommendations

of surpass these challenges.

3. To understand the positives and negatives of provisions of CrPC and IEA related to the

forensic science and how the misuse of the provisions impacts the criminal justice system.

4. To understand the relevancy and credibility of opinion of an expert.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Forensic science has become an aspect, in solving cases. Mandowara (2021)1 highlights the importance of techniques in identifying culprits and reconstructing crime scenes. Methods like fingerprint analysis, DNA profiling, ballistics, toxicology and digital forensics play a role in collecting and analysing evidence needed to solve crimes. The significance of scientific evidence in cases is stressed by Singh and Singh (2021). 2 Their overview emphasizes how such evidence can support or challenge allegations ensuring fairness and justice in proceedings. By shedding light on the scientific aspects of cases, medical and scientific evidence plays a fundamental role in uncovering truths and determining innocence or guilt. Pattath3 contributes to the field by discussing the reliability of evidence in court proceedings.

Advocating for an approach Pattath elements like relevance, authenticity, credibility when 1 Dr. Rekha Mandowara, Forensic Techniques for Dealing with Criminal Cases, 4 The International Journal Of Multidisciplinary Research In Science, Engineering and Technology (IJMRSET) 2253, 2253-2258 (2021). 2 Tanya Singh & Pramod Kumar Singh, Importance of Medical and scientific evidences in criminal cases: an Overviews, 1 International Journal Of Applied Research (IJAR) 964, 964-967 (2015). 3 Aadya Ramesh Pattath et al, Competence of Evidences: A Pragmatic Approach in Court of Law, Research Gate, evaluating evidence. Understanding the nuances of evidence reliability is crucial for its acceptance and trustworthiness. In discussions related to this research topic it is evident that forensic science along, with scientific evidence play roles in the criminal justice system.

By incorporating methods and proficiency, in gathering evidence into the system individuals involved can improve the efficiency and equity of criminal inquiries and court proceedings. It is crucial to conduct studies in this field to overcome obstacles and maximize the application of science, within the framework of criminal procedural laws and evidential standards.

ANALYSIS

Procedure for the criminal investigation, then various powers have been given to the investigating officer, while investigating the case the investigating officer has the power to collect the forensic evidence and samples from the body of the victim and suspected person and hand it over to the laboratories for the forensic examination. This process is completely reliant upon the investigating agencies and the court has minimal role at this stage. The research of Sunaina4, in his research, concluded that there is no surety that most of the forensic evidence collected by the officer investigating would not be examined by specialised forensic experts because the examination of the evidence requires a request and until the request is processed the evidence collected has to be remain in the possession of investigating officer.

The investigating officer has this power and authority to determine which forensic evidence should be gathered and which evidences are sufficient to incriminate the accused. There are sections under CRPC that talk about the medical examination of the accused and victim by the medical officer at the request of the investigating officer. The section 53A talks about the medical examination of the accused of rape, section 54 for the person arrested and section 164A for the victim of rape. Section 53 of CRPC states that the investigating officer can get assistance from the medical https://www. researchgate. net/publication/359449515_Competence_of_Evidences_A_Pragmatic_Approach_in_ Court_of_Law. 4 Sunaina, Role of Police In Forensic Investigation under Section 53 and Section 53A of Cr. PC 1973, 7 Innovation The Research Concept (2022).

practitioner to medically examine the accused to produce forensic evidence and facilitate the investigation effectively. This section effectively talks about how the accused person can examine without his consent and the female should be examined by the lady officer only. The request for the medical examination by a police officer is not below the sub inspector. 5 Section 53 of CrPC is

1) “When a person is arrested on a charge of committing an offence of such a nature and

alleged to have been committed under such circumstances that there are reasonable grounds for believing that an examination of his person will afford evidence as to the commission of an offence, it shall be lawful for a registered medical practitioner, acting at the request of a police officer not below the rank of sub-inspector, and for any person acting in good faith in his aid and under his direction, to make such an examination of the person arrested as is reasonably necessary in order to ascertain the facts which may afford such evidence, and to use such force as is reasonably necessary for that purpose. ” (2) Whenever the person of a female is to be examined under this section, the examination shall be made only by, or under the supervision of, a female registered medical practitioner.

” The medical examination also allows to examine the internal organs of the body of the accused person. 6 The examination of the blood or the DNA profiling of the accused person under section 53 of CrPC cannot be inadmissible because of some pain that the accused has to face during the examination as stated by the court in the case of Jamshed v. State of Uttar Pradesh. 7 In 2005 amendment of CrPC explained what comes under the medical examination, as per the amendment bought the medical examination also includes “examination of blood, blood stains, swabs in case of sexual offences, sputum and sweat, hair samples and finger nail clippings by the adoption of new sophisticated scientific techniques and such other tests as the nature of

5 Anil A. Lokhande v. State of Maharashtra,1981 Cri LJ 125 (SC).

6 Explanation substituted by the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2005 (Act 25 of 2005).

7Jamshed v. State of U. P,1976 Cri LJ 1680 (All). offence committed so requires or the registered medical practitioner thinks necessary in a case. ” The section 53A of CrPC talks about the medical examination of the accused person of Rape by the registered medical officer registered or employed registered under a government hospital. As per this section the person accused of rape, shall be subjected to a medical examination by a registered medical officer and he has a duty to collect all the forensic evidence that is required to deliver justice as per the court said in the case of “Richpal Kharra v. State of Rajasthan8. ” As per the case of “Krishan Kumar Malik v. State of Haryana,9” the hon’ble Supreme Court of India has stated that section 53A is mandatory in nature not discretionary in the cases of rape. In the case of Selvi v.

State of Karnataka10, the Supreme Court of India has given evidentiary value to the forensic evidence with specific reference to sections 53 and 53A in relation to criminal jurisprudence. “In light of this attempted analogy, we must stress that the DNA profiling technique has been expressly included among the various forms of medical examination in the amended explanation to Sections 53, 53-A and 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code. It must also be clarified that a 'DNA profile' is different from a DNA sample which can be obtained from bodily substances. A DNA profile is a record created based on DNA samples made available to forensic experts. Creating and maintaining DNA profiles of offenders and suspects are useful practices since newly obtained DNA samples can be readily matched with existing profiles that are already in the possession of law-enforcement agencies.

The matching of DNA samples is emerging as a vital tool for linking suspects to specific criminal acts. ” Section 293n of CrPC is important to establish the admissibility of the forensic report in a court of law they are generally considered as the primary evidence when they have complied with all the legal requirements as mentioned in this section. Section 293(1) of CrPC is read as “Any document purporting to be a report under the hand of a Government scientific expert to whom this Section applies, upon any matter or thing duly submitted to him for examination or analysis and report in the course of any proceeding under this Code, may be used as evidence in any inquiry, trial or other proceeding under this Code. ”

8 Richpal Kharra v. State of Rajasthan, 2013(3) RCR (Cri) 549.

9 Krishan Kumar Malik v. State of Haryana 2011 (7) SCC 130.

10 Selvi v. State of Karnataka, 1979 Cri LJ 277 (Bom).

In the case of Ashok Kumar Chandel vs State of UP 11 The Allahabad High Court overturned the Trial Court's acquittal and convicted all the accused under Sections 148, 302 read with 149, and 307 read with 149 of the Indian Penal Code, sentencing them to life imprisonment. Initially, the Trial Court refused to admit a ballistic report because it lacked the direct signature of an Assistant Director. However, the High Court deemed it admissible. The Supreme Court upheld the High Court's decision, stating that the report fulfilled the requirements under Section 293 of the CrPC. This ruling was reinforced by precedent, specifically the case of State of Himachal Pradesh v. Mast Ram12 court stated that “Considering the fact that the ballistic report obtained from the office of the Assistant Director bearing his seal and having considered the same in the context of Section 293(4) Cr. P. C.

, as explained by this Court in State of Himachal Pradesh v. Mast Ram,13 we are opinion that the Trial Court committed a serious error in rejecting the ballistic report and it was necessary and compelling for the High Court to reverse the finding of the Trial Court on this count also". Concluding the procedure established by the CrPC empowers the investigating officer to collect the forensic evidence and produce it before the court of law to deliver justice. The evidence used to prove a person's innocence or guilt is crucial in any case. During investigations, the role of evidence is paramount. Forensic evidence, in particular, plays a significant role in enabling the court to examine cases meticulously and deliver judgments impartially.

The role of forensic science in producing evidence is crucial as it can determine the identity of the suspect, the nature and timing of the crime, fingerprints, and more. This specific evidence is vital for ensuring justice is served accurately. Section 45 of the Indian Evidence Act is considered as the crucial section, it talks about forensic evidence and investigation. It states that the opinion of the third party becomes relevant in the court when the judge does not have knowledge about the matter in discussion the matter is purely technical in nature. The matter can vary from art, law, science, etc. and the person who has proficient knowledge about this is an expert and a judge can rely on the opinion of an expert

11 Ashok Kumar Chandel vs State of UP, 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 915.

while delivering a judgment. The evidence of the forensic scientist comes under the preview of the opinion of an expert. In India, unlike the US, scientific advancements sometimes face resistance in the traditional judicial system, which relies heavily on human judgment. This reluctance is evident in the courts' reluctance to accept DNA test results. The criminal codes like CrPC and Evidence Act were established in a time when scientific methods were not widely used to determine guilt. Although not a good excuse, many courts today still reject DNA test results, citing concerns about violating the Right to Privacy under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution or even citing 'public policy'. However, it's been emphasized in cases like Govind Singh and K. S. Puttuswami that the right to privacy is not absolute. In the case of N D Tiwari the DNA evidence was made admissible.

In this case, a person named Rohit claimed to be Tiwari's biological son Tiwari refused and hesitated to undergo the DNA testing and stated it was a breach of his right to privacy and public embarrassment. However, the court assured him that the test wouldn't risk him in public humiliation the court also emphasized that the denial of Tiwari for the test would result in no justice for Rohit. If eth modern tools are present for justice and fairness then the judiciary must utilize them. In India, there is no specific legislation to legally acknowledge DNA testing as evidence in India. Section 73 of the Indian Evidence Act legally acknowledges the fingerprint as evidence. Section 9 of the Indian Evidence Act talks about the relevancy of the facts about the time, place, and person.

In 185th Law Commission Report, lays down the importance of DNA in identifying the crime and the accused person this report also proposes to amend section 112 of the Indian Evidence Act to include DNA testing. Adding on the report concluded the exception under this section to the Section should be included: impotency, blood test, and DNA test. 14 It is not wrong to say that India’s growth in the field of forensic science from the past few years is fabulous but still there are many challenges and limitation which stop it to reach its full potential. The participation or joint efforts of forensic experts and legal professionals face many problems which are discussed below. Discussing and understanding these challenges and

14 Id.

hurdles are important to make policies or strategies as to overcome them. Resource Constraints: Most of Indian forensic laboratories are facing problem of scant resources including old equipment, very less funding and lack of skilled professional. As the demand of the forensic science is increasing day by day, it outstrips the facilities which we are having in the present time which leads to delay in investigation of many cases. Infrastructure and Technology gaps: The technology and infrastructure related to the forensic is getting advanced so fast globally that India is not able to reach their because of lack of proper infrastructure and technology. Even if some new equipment are arranged, our forensic experts or professionals are not in position to use them because lack of training and they missed the opportunity for evidence discovery and analysis. In Lakhan Lal v.

State of Madhya Pradesh,15 the high court of Madhya Pradesh stressed on improving the infrastructure of forensic laboratories as to analyse the evidence in a proper manner. Overburden of work: The cases are increases in India day by day and overburden of work over forensic experts is one the big challenge in the India n legal system. The forensic experts or scientists are having so much burden of work; therefore many times there is delay in submitting reports and testifying in court. And this will not only effect criminal investigation but it may also leads to tempering of evidence. Reliability and accuracy of forensic evidence: The evidence is admissible in the court only if it is reliable and on the basis of its quality or accuracy.

But most of the forensic scientists or experts do not follow the proper set up or rules laid down related to collection, preservation, and presentation of evidence and the lack of uniform procedures and quality control systems in all Indian forensic labs casts doubt on the reliability and consistency of forensic findings. To build trust among the public and the legal community, standardisation is essential. Cybercrime Challenges: One of the biggest challenges in the 21st century is cybercrime. Cybercrime is increasing day by day and forensic experts are not able to investigate the digital evidences. It can be overcome by adopting new forensic techniques and by giving proper training to the forensic staff. In Ritu Kohli case,16 a company owner received a mail in which 15 Lakhan Lal v. State of Madhya Pradesh, Criminal Appeal No. 1306/2013; Appeal heard on - 04-04-2019.

16 Nilesh Beliraya K Abhilasha, Cyber Crime against Women in India: Legal Challenges and Solutions, 3 International Journal of Law Management & Humanities 1012, 1012-1022 (2020). it was said that if he did not give money to them, they would release a sensitive information about the company. The forensic expert in this case tried to trace that mail and was successful to identify the cybercriminals. This case shows that by adopting new forensic techniques and giving proper training, the problems and cases related to cybercrime can be solved. Challenges and problem in admissibility and utilization of forensic evidences: • The one of the major problem in India about utilization and admissibility of forensic science is lack of standardization in the field of forensic science and forensic evidences.

Absences of certain and specific standardized arrangement and procedures for collection, preservation, examination and analysing the evidences affects the uniformity and it also raises questions on the reliability of the evidences. • India is a developing country with inadequate capacity to fulfil the infrastructures for wellfurnished forensic laboratories. On the other side lack skilled and trained experts, lack of equipment which makes the process of analysing the evidences delayed that also raises questions on the efficiency and reliability of the evidences. • Legal challenges may also arise with regards to the forensic science as the concerns related to the privacy of the person, credibility and authenticity may arise before the court.

Different aspects of admissibility of forensic evidences: • The evidence must be relevant to the case, giving a direct or indirect connection to the circumstances and the person involved in the offence. • The evidences collected, examined and analysed through scientific method must be reliable and have valid scientific backup. • The scientific evidence presented must be credible specially the scientific experts, they must have required skills qualifications etc to back their finding. • Comparative to the other field of the science forensic science is very less awarded between the people or people are very less aware about this field and also there are many misconceptions about the forensic science. There is very important need to make awareness about the forensic process to enhance the forensic system in India.

REFORMS & AMENDMENTS

The first and foremost amendment or need in the forensic field is standardization of the system of forensic science and the procedures of collecting, preserving, examining and analysing the forensic evidences. India still needs development in the field of forensic science and to make the scientific system of the country standardized as the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) quality assurance laboratories to improve the credibility of the forensic or the scientific evidence before the court. To improve these things government need to order a national guidelines or a regulation to specify and standardized the forensic or scientific system of the country. Additionally establishing a separate body or an agency to regulate the work and system for credible forensic and scientific evidence.

• Improving the infrastructure and capacity of the forensic system, by training the forensic experts to improve and enhance their skills, to invest and establishes the better and modern equipment and technologies for the forensic evidences. For the accurate, valid, credible scientific evidence there is a very urgent need for the training and professional development. • All the professionals in the legal fields are often seen having the very little knowledge about the forensic science. The legal professional and legal students are required to have the forensic science knowledge because the scientific evidences which are a very crucial part of case are often ignored in the court of law.

• The experts of the forensic field must have proper certificate from the government to prove their credibility and to make the opinion the court stronger and this certification should be maintained and properly regulated. The person giving the opinion should be certified and an expert in that field to ensure the statement and validity of the opinion. Relation between forensic science and criminal procedure code (CrPC): forensic science provides strong and scientific evidence that can lead to conviction and acquittal of the accused person. Forensic science plays a very important role in strengthening the case as it is used in the initial stages of the criminal investigation while collecting, preserving, examining and analysing the evidence from the crime scene. The criminal procedure code i. e.

CrPC doesn’t specifically talks about the forensic science or scientific evidences but section 53 and 54 of CrPC talks about examination of the accused and section 53 talks about giving authority to conduct medical examination of the accused person, including forensic analysis of the

examination of the accused and repots of the accused. Further section 293 of the CrPC talks about the admissibility of the forensic evidences in the court law. Relation between forensic science and Indian evidence act, 1872: the Indian evidence act, 1872 also doesn’t talk about forensic science specifically but it does talk about the admissibility of forensic or scientific evidence in the form of expert opinion. Section 45 of the Indian evidence act, talks about the opinion given by expert is relevant before the court. Further this section says in the matter of hand writing, fingerprints, art, science and etc. opinion of an expert would be relevant and admissible in the court. Impact on fairness and efficiency of criminal justice system: these reforms and amendment will enhance the criminal justice system in India.

Forensic science is a very strong tool for criminal investigation, a valid and credible forensic evidence can help the court in forming their decision for either conviction or acquittal of the accused person. Standardized system and procedure, equipment can improve the reliability and credibility of the scientific evidences which will reduce the risk of wrongful acquittal or conviction of any person. Standardized system of forensic evidences will also improve the efficiency of the department in collecting, preserving, examining and analysing the evidences that will reduce the risk of destroying, tempering of any other kind of disturbance to the evidences. Improving the training, skill and certification of the experts might reduce the risk of fake testimony in the court by unauthorized person which will also enhance the trust and credibility on the statement.

Where the forensic evidences are used: in the case of serious offences forensic techniques are used. In the cases were for the establishment of justice scientific evidences are needed then forensic science comes in the picture for giving scientific back to facts presented. For example: in the case of Homicide and Assault, Murder, Rape or any kind of sexual offences and etc. Notable cases for forensic evidences: • Nirbhaya case17 (Delhi gang rape case 2012): in this DNA of the all accused were the important and critical evidence for their identification of the real culprit and also played an important role in their conviction.

17 MUKESH & ANR V. STATE (NCT OF DELHI) & ORS (2017) 6 SCC 1.

Aarushi Talwar Murder case18: in this case forensic evidences presented were questioned on the basis of their reliability and credibility because of initial mishandling of the crime, unnecessary delayed in collecting the evidences mishandling the evidences. • State of Bombay v. Kathi kalu Oghad and Anr19: in this case the Supreme Court said that collecting forensic evidences from any person like fingerprints, blood, semen samples and etc. doesn’t violate their fundamental right under Article 20(3). This is also mentioned under section 73 of the Indian Evidence Act, ethic says that any person can be asked at any time to give the DNA or fingerprint for examination.

CONCLUSION

This is a clear fact that forensic science and scientific evidences plays a very important role in the criminal investigation and criminal justice system. The field of forensic science has developed over the years in India, with technological advancement and other process forensic science has also developed. Despite all these advancement in field of forensic science, India still needs major improvement and enhancement for forensic science and scientific evidences. On the other hand, the court also hesitates to completely rely on the forensic or scientific evidences due to false practices in presenting the evidences in the court unnecessary interference, disturbances and misplacement of the evidences collected.

The different laws also doesn’t talk about the forensic evidences or scientific evidences and that gap need to filled because this plays a very important role in deciding the case either for conviction or acquittal.

18 Dr. Rajesh Talwar And Another V. Central Bureau Of Investigation, 2013 (82) ACC 303.

19 The State Of Bombay vs Kathi Kalu Oghad And Others, 1961 AIR 1808,