Shah instructs Delhi Police to make forensic investigation mandatory for crimes with over 6 years in jail

New Delhi [India], August 30 : Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday directed the Delhi Police that forensic investigation should be made mandatory in all crimes involving punishment of more than six years in the national capital to increase the conviction rate.
Shah gave instructions regarding this during his visit to Delhi Police headquarters which was followed by an extensive meeting with officers on various subjects.
In the meeting, the Home Minister directed that forensic investigation should be made mandatory in all crimes involving punishment of more than six years in Delhi to increase the conviction rate and to integrate the criminal justice system with forensic science investigation.
He said that in the identified offences of serious nature, chargesheets should be filed by the police only after legal vetting.
Hours after Shah's instructions on forensic science investigation, Delhi Commissioner of Police Sanjay Arora ordered instructions and guidelines for compulsory forensic investigation.
As per the guidelines, the supervisory officers i.e. ACP and above shall personally ensure that in all cases in which punishment is more than six years, the Forensic Mobile Van was summoned at the spot.
The Home Minister said that surveillance is a major component of policing in preventing and investigating crime, hence cameras installed by the civil administration and police in Delhi, as well as CCTV cameras installed in public places like airports, railway stations, bus stands, markets, RWAs, should be integrated with the control room.
He said that a strategy was prepared to crack down on multi-state criminal gangs operating in the National Capital Region and the neighbouring States of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana etc. In the meeting, there was an in-depth discussion on the security arrangements at the G-20 Summit to be held in India. The Union Home Minister directed that a team from the Ministry of Home Affairs should visit some of the countries where the G-20 Summit had been successfully organized to study the security aspects.
The Union Home Minister said the safety of women, children and senior citizens should be a priority. Shah directed that efforts to provide them with a safe environment with a more professional and sensitive approach should be accelerated.
The minister said along with the safety of the general public, their convenience should also be a priority of Delhi Police, therefore a proper strategy for infrastructure and signalling should be developed and an alternate action plan should be developed to facilitate smooth traffic movement after identifying traditional traffic hot-spots where the situation of extreme jams is seen.
In the meeting, while discussing policing by Delhi Police, a thorough review was undertaken of sensitive policing, scientific and professional investigation of crimes, law and justice management, cybercrime, training, future challenges and welfare of police personnel.
The Union Home Minister said that for the timely disposal of complaints and with regard to online complaints a facility should be developed to provide information to the complainant about the status of his complaint.
He said social media should be used to take humanitarian work by the police personnel to the general public. In this context, police constables should spend time with school children to change the perception of the public towards the police.
Along with this, school children should be taken on visits to police stations and a cleanliness campaign should be conducted by the police in community areas. He said school children should also be informed about the role of police in society and how to approach the police for their services.
The Union Home Minister congratulated the policemen and police wards who won medals in Commonwealth Games (CWG), World Police Fire Games and other sports.