E-Paper
Lack of forensic labs: court notice to state
The Punjab and Haryana high court has taken suo-motu notice of the lack of forensic science laboratories in Punjab because of which drug accused have to languish in jails for years during trial.
The Punjab and Haryana high court has taken suo-motu notice of the lack of forensic science laboratories in Punjab because of which drug accused have to languish in jails for years during trial.
The division bench comprising chief justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and justice Arun Palli on Friday issued a notice of motion to the Punjab government to demand its reply.
When justice Surya Kant inspected the Rupnagar jail on March 2, the undertrials had submitted him a representation that delayed reports from the state’s only forensic science laboratory had extended their stay behind bars.
They highlighted that in many cases, the drug analysis was submitted as late as more than a year on.
The administrative judge of the Rupnagar sessions division, justice Surya Kant, mentioned in a note that the lack of sufficient laboratories had slowed down trials and the special courts were unable to take up the matters for want of timely challans.
The note sought directions to Punjab and Haryana to consider building sufficient number of forensic science laboratories in each district.
