Forensic Science and Scientific Investigation of Crime Notes | LL.M. Semester 3 | Mumbai University | munotes

Contents

Module I

1. What This Paper Is About 1
2. What Forensic Science Is 6
3. The Principles Forensic Science Rests On 11
4. The Scope of Forensic Science, and Where It Stops 16
5. The Criminal Justice System of India 20
6. Forensic Science as an Integral Component 24
7. How Forensic Evidence Reaches a Criminal Trial 28
8. The Expert Witness: Section 39(1) 32
9. The Examiner of Electronic Evidence: Section 39(2) 37
10. Facts Bearing on the Opinion of Experts: Section 40 41
11. Opinion as to Handwriting and Signature: Section 41 45
12. When the Court Compares for Itself: Section 72 49
13. Reports of Government Scientific Experts: Section 329 54
14. When the Expert Need Not Be Called: Section 330 58
15. The Successor in Office: Section 336 62
16. The Weight of Expert Evidence 66
17. The Forensic Expert at the Crime Scene: Section 176(3) 71
18. Seizure, Sealing and Forwarding an Exhibit 75
19. The Chain of Custody 79
20. Medical Examination of the Arrested Person: Sections 51 to 53 84
21. Medical Examination of the Victim: Section 184 89
22. Inquest and Post-Mortem: Section 194 93
23. Specimen Signatures, Handwriting and Voice Samples: Section 349 97
24. The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act 2022 101
25. Article 20(3) and the Evidence the Body Carries 106
26. Consent, and the Limits on Involuntary Techniques 110
27. Article 21, Privacy and the Holding of Forensic Data 115
28. Where the System Fails 119
29. Before the Laboratories: India Before 1849 123
30. How the Subject Grew Abroad 127
31. The Chemical Examiners to Government 132
32. Anthropometry, and Why India Abandoned It 136
33. The Fingerprint Bureau of 1897 140
34. The Government Examiner of Questioned Documents 144
35. The Serologist to the Government 148
36. The Scientific Sections of the Police 152
37. The State Forensic Science Laboratories 156
38. The Central Forensic Science Laboratories 159
39. The Bureau of Police Research and Development, and the Directorate 162
40. The National Crime Records Bureau and the Finger Print Bureaux 165
41. The Committees and Commissions 169
42. The Statutes: 1920 to 2022 173
43. The DNA Bills, and Why India Still Has No DNA Statute 177
44. The Three New Criminal Laws of 2023 181
45. The National Forensic Sciences University Act 2020 185
46. Where Indian Forensic Science Stands Now 188

Module II

1. Module II: The Sentence the University Did Not Finish 192
2. What a Forensic Science Laboratory Does 196
3. How a Laboratory Is Divided 200
4. Forensic Ballistics: What the Branch Is 203
5. Firearms and Their Classification 207
6. Internal, External and Terminal Ballistics 211
7. Rifling, Striations and the Identification of a Firearm 215
8. Cartridge Cases, Firing Pin and Breech Face Marks 219
9. Range of Fire, and Entry and Exit Wounds 222
10. Gunshot Residue 225
11. Ballistics Evidence in an Indian Court 229
12. Forensic Biology: What the Branch Is 233
13. Blood: Is It Blood, Whose Species, Whose Group 236
14. Serology: Semen, Saliva and the Other Fluids 240
15. Hair, Fibre and Botanical Trace 244
16. DNA and DNA Profiling 248
17. DNA Evidence in Indian Criminal Courts 252
18. DNA in Paternity and Other Civil Questions 256
19. India Has No DNA Statute 260
20. Forensic Chemistry: What the Branch Is 263
21. Forensic Toxicology: What the Branch Is 266
22. The Classes of Poison, and How Each Is Detected 270
23. Viscera, Sampling and the Chemical Examiner's Report 274
24. Narcotic Drugs, Their Analysis, and the Quantity Question 278
25. Alcohol, Its Estimation, and Drunken Driving 282
26. Explosives, Arson and Fire Debris 287
27. Forensic Medicine and Medical Jurisprudence 291
28. The Medico-Legal Autopsy 295
29. Identification of the Living and the Dead 299
30. Time Since Death 302
31. Injuries and Wounds 306
32. Asphyxial Deaths 310
33. Sexual Offences and the Medical Evidence 314
34. The Medical Witness in Court 318
35. Forensic Anthropology: What the Branch Is 322
36. The Analysis of Human Bones 325
37. Age Determination and the Law 329
38. Superimposition and Facial Reconstruction 333
39. Forensic Odontology 336
40. Fingerprints: The Three Principles 340
41. Fingerprint Patterns and Their Types 344
42. Classification, and the Henry System 348
43. Developing and Lifting a Latent Print 352
44. Comparison, Points of Similarity, and the Automated Systems 356
45. Fingerprint Evidence in an Indian Court 360
46. Questioned Documents: What the Branch Is 364
47. Handwriting Identification 368
48. Signatures and the Classes of Forgery 372
49. Alterations, Erasures, Obliterations and Indented Writing 376
50. Ink, Paper, Typescript and Printing 380
51. Counterfeit Currency 384
52. Questioned Document Evidence in an Indian Court 388
53. Forensic Physics and the Instruments 392
54. Ultraviolet and Infrared in Crime Detection 395
55. Forensic Psychology and the Detection of Deception 398
56. Digital and Cyber Forensics 402
57. Voice and Speaker Identification 406
58. Forensic Photography and Videography 410
59. Crime Scene Management 414
60. The Other Divisions a Laboratory Holds 418

Module III

1. What Module III Asks 422
2. The Modern Devices, Listed and Grouped 425
3. Modern Techniques of Crime Control 428
4. Narco-Analysis 432
5. The Polygraph 436
6. Brain Electrical Activation Profile and Brain Mapping 440
7. The Constitutional Line Across All Three 444
8. Closed Circuit Television and Video Surveillance 448
9. Facial Recognition 452
10. Number Plate Recognition and Traffic Enforcement 456
11. Biometric Identification and the Measurements Database 461
12. The Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and the Inter-operable Criminal Justice System 465
13. The National Databases a Police Officer Can Search 469
14. Explosive Trace Detection and the Portable Bomb Sniffer 472
15. Screening: Metal Detectors, Scanners and Baggage Systems 477
16. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Aerial Surveillance 481
17. Interception of Communications and Call Data Records 486
18. Mobile Device Forensics and Location Evidence 493
19. Electronic Records in Evidence: Section 63 and the Certificate 498
20. Tracking Devices and Vehicle Telematics 503
21. Artificial Intelligence and Predictive Policing 507
22. Designing Crime Out: Situational Prevention 511
23. What Technological Crime Control Costs 515

Module IV

1. What an Inter-State Crime Is 520
2. Inter-State Crimes as the University Sets Them 524
3. Why the Constitution Makes Them Hard 528
4. Territorial Jurisdiction Under the Sanhita 533
5. The Extra-Territorial Reach of the Nyaya Sanhita 538
6. Organised Crime: Section 111 542
7. Petty Organised Crime: Section 112 546
8. Terrorist Act: Section 113 and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 550
9. Investigating Across a State Line 556
10. Arrest Outside Jurisdiction and Transit Remand 561
11. The Central Bureau of Investigation and the Act of 1946 567
12. State Consent, General Consent, and Its Withdrawal 573
13. The National Investigation Agency 578
14. Records, Coordination and the National Picture 585
15. The Inter-State Criminal: History Sheets and Surveillance 589
16. INTERPOL: What It Is 594
17. How INTERPOL Is Constituted 599
18. What INTERPOL Does: Its Functions and Its Databases 605
19. INTERPOL Notices 609
20. India and INTERPOL 615
21. What INTERPOL Cannot Do 620
22. Extradition 625
23. Mutual Legal Assistance and Letters Rogatory 633
24. Transnational Crime 639
25. The Scientific Investigation of an Inter-State Crime 645
26. Where the System Fails 650