Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) issued a notice to Delhi home secretary on Wednesday for not taking any action against officers responsible for degeneration of samples at Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Rohini. At present, 7,808 cases are pending with the lab since 2011. As per details sought by the commission, FSL claimed that 2,169 forensic samples are pending from 2014 till September 2015. Some of these samples have the expiry of about one year and may have already expired or may be on the verge of it.
As per the lab officials, 1,479 samples have already deteriorated as they have exceeded the one-year period. They have been pending with the lab from 2011 till 2014 and were never tested. “These will no longer produce accurate results. This is a huge blow to the victims of grievous crimes of gang-rapes and rapes of children and women,” said Swati Maliwal, DCW Chairperson.
These are mostly blood and skin samples. Officials at the commission said that they got to know of the pendency at labs when most of the rape survivors, who come for counselling, complained of no results from the forensics. “Most of the cases the commission has received, are pending in the court as forensics results haven’t come.” At present, 203 posts are lying vacant in FSL for several years and there is acute staff shortage.
“We got to know senior scientists have to do the administrative work and many samples go untested,” she said. The commission has asked for steps proposed by the Home Department to ensure that high pendency of cases is reduced.
The move comes in the wake of the Director of FSL replying to DCW’s notice in September.
As per the lab officials, 1,479 samples have already deteriorated as they have exceeded the one-year validity period