Unit 2: Structure of Criminal Justice System in India

I. Orientation: The Criminal Justice Framework

The Indian criminal justice system rests on three functional pillars — investigation (police and forensic agencies), adjudication (judiciary), and correction — governed primarily by the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (successor to CrPC, 1973), the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023. Forensic laboratories supply scientific evidence that links these pillars.

• Constitutional division: "Police" and "Public order" are State subjects (List II, Seventh Schedule); central agencies operate on Union subjects or with State consent.
• Scientific evidence status: Expert opinion is admissible under Section 39 (formerly S.45, Indian Evidence Act) — an expert on science, art, handwriting or fingerprints may testify.
• Tiered laboratory network: Central (national apex) → Regional → State → Mobile units, escalating from routine casework to specialised and national-security analysis.
• Nodal control: Central labs fall under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) via the Directorate of Forensic Science Services (DFSS, est. 2002); State labs under respective State Home Departments.

II. The Forensic Laboratory System

A. Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory (CFSL)

The CFSLs are the apex forensic facilities handling cases of national importance and inter-state ramification.

• Administration: Run by DFSS under MHA; the Chandigarh CFSL is under the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
• Principal locations: Chandigarh, Kolkata (oldest, 1957), Hyderabad, New Delhi, Pune, Guwahati, Bhopal.
• Divisions: Biology/Serology, Chemistry, Toxicology, Physics, Ballistics, Documents, DNA, Cyber/Computer Forensics, Explosives.
• Role:
  • Casework: Examines exhibits referred by CBI, central agencies and courts, especially high-profile or cross-border crimes.
  • Research and standardisation: Develops methods, validates protocols, maintains uniform quality across the network.
  • Training: Trains State laboratory personnel and investigating officers.
• Significance: Provides an impartial national reference point; its opinions carry weight in Supreme Court and High Court matters.

B. State Forensic Sciences Laboratory (SFSL)

Each State maintains an SFSL as the primary scientific support for its own police force.

• Control: State Home Department; headed by a Director of Forensic Science.
• Function: Analyses exhibits from cases registered within the State — the bulk of routine forensic casework.
• Typical sections: Biology, Serology, Chemistry, Toxicology, Ballistics, Document Examination, Lie-detection/Polygraph, DNA, Narcotics.
• Role:
  • Local casework: Handles the majority of exhibits so cases are not routinely escalated to central labs.
  • Court testimony: SFSL scientists appear as expert witnesses under Section 39, BSA.
  • Backlog management: Regional and mobile units feed into or relieve the SFSL.

C. Regional Forensic Sciences Laboratory (RFSL)

RFSLs decentralise the SFSL's workload to reduce delay and distance within a large State.

• Structure: Subordinate to the SFSL; located in regional or divisional headquarters (e.g., district clusters).
• Purpose-and-principle: Bring analysis closer to the crime scene, cutting exhibit transit time and preventing evidence degradation.
• Capabilities: Usually offer core divisions — Biology, Chemistry, Toxicology, Ballistics, Documents — while complex analyses (DNA, advanced instrumentation) are referred upward to the SFSL or CFSL.
• Significance: Improve turnaround for routine matters; the parent SFSL retains supervisory and quality-control authority.

D. Mobile Forensic Units

Mobile units are vehicle-mounted teams that bring the laboratory to the scene of crime.

• Purpose: Provide immediate on-site examination, especially for scenes where evidence is fragile or perishable.
• Composition: A trained scientific officer, crime-scene equipment, portable kits (fingerprint development, photography, sample-collection tubes, presumptive test reagents such as Kastle-Meyer for blood).
• Role:
  • Preservation: Collect, package and label exhibits before contamination or decay.
  • Preliminary tests: Perform presumptive/screening tests on the spot to guide investigation.
  • Documentation: Photograph and sketch the scene, fixing spatial relationships of evidence.
• Statutory push: Under Section 176(3), BNSS, forensic-expert visit to the scene is mandated for offences punishable by seven years or more — sharply expanding the demand for mobile units.

E. Government Examiner of Questioned Documents (GEQD)

The GEQD is the central authority for examining disputed documents, handwriting and printed matter.

• Location: Offices at Shimla, Kolkata and Hyderabad, under DFSS/MHA.
• Scope of examination:
  • Handwriting and signatures: Compares questioned writing against admitted specimens for authorship.
  • Alterations and forgery: Detects erasures, additions, over-writings and mechanical/chemical alterations.
  • Printed and typed matter: Examines typescripts, seals, stamps, currency, watermarks and ink.
• Standing: GEQD is a recognised government expert whose opinion is admissible under Section 39, BSA; often decisive in cheque, will, contract and forgery disputes.
• Anchoring example: In a disputed will, the examiner overlays the questioned signature and genuine specimens to assess line quality, pen pressure, pen-lifts and natural variation before opining on genuineness.

III. Law Enforcement Agencies: Role and Organisational Setup

A. Nature and Constitutional Basis

Law enforcement agencies detect, investigate and prevent crime and maintain public order.

• Constitutional placement: Police is a State subject; hence a dual structure of State forces and Union agencies coexists.
• Governing statutes: Historically the Police Act, 1861; investigative powers under BNSS, 2023.

B. Organisational Setup — State Police

The State police is a hierarchical force headed by the Director General of Police (DGP).

• Rank hierarchy (top to bottom):
  • DGP: Head of the State force.
  • IGP / Additional DGP: Zone-level command.
  • DIG: Range command.
  • SP / SSP: District command (the district is the basic unit).
  • DSP / Circle Inspector → SI → ASI → Head Constable → Constable: Station and beat level.
• Field unit: The police station (thana), under a Station House Officer (SHO), is where FIRs are registered under Section 173, BNSS.

C. Central Agencies and Their Roles

Central bodies handle offences of national or specialised character.

• CBI: Premier investigating agency; probes corruption, economic offences and cases entrusted by courts or States.
• NIA: National Investigation Agency — investigates terrorism and offences against national security under the NIA Act, 2008.
• Intelligence and border/armed forces:
  • IB: Internal intelligence gathering.
  • CRPF, BSF, CISF, ITBP, SSB: Central Armed Police Forces for internal security, borders and installations.
• NCRB: Compiles national crime statistics and maintains databases (fingerprints, missing persons).

D. Role of Law Enforcement Agencies

Their function spans prevention through prosecution support.

• Prevention: Patrolling, intelligence and deterrence to maintain order.
• Investigation: Registering FIRs, securing the scene, collecting evidence, arresting and interrogating suspects, filing the charge-sheet.
• Scene-forensic interface: Officers protect the crime scene and coordinate with mobile/State laboratories so the chain of custody is intact.

IV. The Indian Judiciary System and Its Role

A. Structure of the Judiciary

India has a single, integrated and hierarchical judiciary applying both central and State laws.

• Apex: Supreme Court of India (Article 124) — highest court of appeal, guardian of the Constitution, binding precedent under Article 141.
• State level: High Courts (Article 214) — highest court in a State, with writ and appellate jurisdiction.
• Subordinate criminal courts (BNSS hierarchy):
  • Sessions Court: Tries grave offences; headed by Sessions Judge.
  • Chief Judicial Magistrate / Judicial Magistrate First Class: Try middle-tier offences.
  • Judicial Magistrate Second Class: Try minor offences.
• Sentencing limits: A Magistrate First Class may impose up to three years' imprisonment; a Sessions Judge may pass any sentence, but a death sentence requires High Court confirmation.

B. Role of the Judiciary

The judiciary adjudicates guilt, safeguards rights and interprets law.

• Adjudication: Weighs prosecution and defence evidence, including forensic reports, to determine guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
• Evaluating expert evidence:
  • Admission: Accepts expert opinion under Section 39, BSA.
  • Weight: Treats it as corroborative — the court, not the expert, is the final judge of fact and may reject an opinion for weak reasoning.
• Protection of rights: Enforces fair trial, presumption of innocence and safeguards against illegal detention through writs (Article 32 / 226).
• Interpretation and precedent: Interprets statutes; Supreme Court rulings bind all lower courts, ensuring uniform application of criminal law.
• Anchoring principle: A forensic DNA match strengthens the prosecution, but the court still tests collection integrity, chain of custody and the analyst's method before relying on it — illustrating the judiciary's role as the ultimate evaluator of scientific evidence.