High court today expressed its displeasure over the time taken by the Delhi government's forensic laboratory to examine criminal evidence cases.
A bench of Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justice Manmohan said, "if the forensic lab takes years to examine a case and send a report, how do you expect the courts to dispose of the criminal case."
The court's observation came after Delhi Government, through an affidavit, said that the only state-run Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in the city, at Rohini, gets a large number of cases for examination, leading to backlogs.
"In view of pendency of case exhibits, at present a case for examination comes in two years in Chemistry division, three-four years in DNA division and five years in documentation," the affidavit explained.
According to the affidavit, as of August 31, 2013, a total of 10,332 cases are pending although manpower, space and other infrastructure had not increased commensurately.
Further, the government said it had decided to establish three regional FSLs in view of the large number of cases, but DDA is yet to sanction the land.
The bench, which had taken suo motu cognisance in the Dec. 16 Delhi gangrape incident, asked Lt Governor (LG), who is the Chairman of DDA, to hold a meeting with the departments concerned to address the issue with land as also the other shortcomings.
Meanwhile, the court also expressed its anguish at the thin presence of women personnel in the police force.
"Knowing well what incidents are happening in the city, at least 50 per cent of the posts should be filled by women personnel. To reach 30 per cent reservation for women, it will take 10 years," the bench said in reference to a police report giving details of the total number of personnel in the force.
Appearing for the police, Special Public Prosecutor Dayan Krishnan admitted that the ratio of the men to women in Delhi Police was less than six per cent.
