Home Minister Amit Shah chairs parliamentary consultative committee meeting of MHA
Srinagar, Jan 03 (KINS): Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah chaired a meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs at Sri Vijaya Puram in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, with a focus on strengthening the country’s forensic ecosystem through the Central Forensic Science Laboratories (CFSLs) and the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU).
The meeting was attended by Union Ministers of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai and Bandi Sanjay Kumar, members of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee, Union Home Secretary, Vice-Chancellor of NFSU, Director General of the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), and other senior officials.
Addressing the gathering, Amit Shah said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government aims to build a justice delivery system by 2029 in which the entire process—from the registration of an FIR to the Supreme Court—can be completed within three years. He said reforms initiated since 2022 and the enactment of three new criminal laws in July 2024 are key steps towards achieving this goal.
The Home Minister said the Ministry of Home Affairs is carrying out 360-degree monitoring to ensure effective implementation of the new laws and to remove any shortcomings. He noted that the government had begun preparing for forensic reforms as early as 2020, even before the new criminal laws came into force, and the results are now visible.
Highlighting early outcomes, Shah said investigations have become faster and conviction rates have improved. He cited instances such as a minor rape case in West Bengal where the accused was sentenced to death within 62 days, and a triple murder case in Bihar’s Siwan district where convictions were secured in just 50 days.
Amit Shah said the government has addressed long-standing challenges in forensic investigations, including technology gaps, weak chain of custody, shortage of skilled professionals, lack of laboratories, and absence of uniform national standards. Under the new legal framework, forensic laboratories will now submit reports directly to courts, with copies provided to police.
He announced that an investment of ₹30,000 crore will be made over the next five years to establish a nationwide network of forensic laboratories. By 2029, every state and Union Territory will have either a forensic university or a CFSL. Around ₹1,000 crore has already been provided to strengthen state forensic labs, forensic vans, and regional laboratories.
The Home Minister said the Modi government has fully modernized the five pillars of the justice system—police, courts, prisons, forensics, and prosecution—through technology-driven reforms such as e-Summons, e-Sakshya, e-FIR and Zero FIR, which he said have brought major relief to the poor and women. Forensic visits have been made mandatory in all criminal cases punishable with seven years or more.
He added that cybercrime, organized crime, terrorism, and digital fraud have now been clearly defined, reducing grey areas in the legal system. Digital and electronic evidence has been given a strong legal basis, while videography of seizures has been made mandatory to strengthen the chain of custody.
Amit Shah said that by November 2025, every police station in the country has been brought online under the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS). Data from FIRs, courts, prisons, prosecution, forensics, fingerprints, narcotics offenders, human trafficking cases, and terrorism-related cases under the UAPA is now available on centralized digital platforms, enhancing coordination and transparency.
He also announced that a Modus Operandi Bureau will soon be established for crime mapping, while integrated video conferencing portals are making interactions between prisons and courts more efficient and time-bound.
On the role of NFSU, the Home Minister said the university has achieved 100 per cent placement so far and is on track to produce around 35,000 forensic experts by 2029. Fourteen campuses of NFSU have been established, over 100 training programmes are being run, and more than 16,000 officers have been trained in the last four years.
Amit Shah said NFSU has registered 46 patents, with 30 filed in 2024 alone, and has signed MoUs with 96 countries and 117 central and state government organisations. He added that indigenous kits developed by NFSU for narcotics, sexual assault, cybercrime and food testing are proving highly effective.
Concluding, the Home Minister said the initial results following the implementation of the three new criminal laws are encouraging and reaffirm the government’s commitment to delivering faster, transparent, and technology-driven justice to citizens.(KINS)
