Introduction to Forensic Science in Criminal Investigation Rukumani Krishnamurthy

Crime is as old as the human civilization itself. Crime in some or the other form have existed in society from the time human race has come to life. Societies define crime as the breach of one or more rules or laws for which governing authority may appoint “police agencies” who will investigate the crime and place the facts in front of Judicial Officers who after careful examination of the facts will ultimately prescribe a conviction or acquittal as the case may be. One can view criminalization as a procedure deployed by society as a pre-emptive, harm-reduction device, using the threat of punishment as a deterrent to anyone proposing to engage in the behavior causing harm. The State becomes involved because governing entities can become convinced that the costs of not criminalizing (i.e. allowing the harms to continue unabated) outweigh the costs of criminalizing it (restricting individual liberty, for example, in order to minimize harm to others). . In India the burden of proving a crime beyond doubt is on the prosecution. The different agencies working for crime detection are Police Officers, Forensic Scientist, Medico-legal Doctors and Judicial Officers. Scientific advancements in various branches of science have encouraged the modern scientific techniques to provide quick solutions to a majority of problems of the human beings. Modernization of the investigation procedure lead to the concept of Forensic Science (i.e. the science used in the courts of law). When the application of science in solving crime cases increased, its indisputable strength in providing clinching evidence was slowly realized all over the world. As usual the western countries took the lead. However, India did not lag far behind and a few ‘Laboratories, of Chemical Examiners’ were established during middle of the nineteenth century but their role was limited and for nearly hundred years, hardly any expansion took place. Successful investigation of crime as well as fair administration of just