56% of undertrial inmates have no reason to be in jail: Ex-CJI Lalit

Hyderabad: Former Supreme Court chief justice UU Lalit on Saturday said pre-trial incarcerations’ time could be reduced with extensive use of forensic science and other scientific methods.Speaking as a chief guest after inaugurating a national seminar on effective use of forensic science in the criminal justice system organised jointly by Nalsar University and Truth Labs, the former CJI said that 80% of people lodged in jails were undertrial prisoners and 56% of them have no reason to be in jails. “They will be acquitted after some time because our conviction rate is only 30 per cent,” Justice Lalit said. Referring to a PIL in the apex court seeking setting up of a forensic science lab (FSL) in every district headquarters town, Justice Lalit underlined the need for courts to embark upon unravelling truth and to increase the trust of the people in the criminal justice system. Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan of Telangana high court, in his speech, said that there are thousands of cases where chargesheets were not filed on account of non-arrival of reports from FSLs. “We need to equip ourselves with more FSLs,” he added. He congratulated Truth Labs chairman Gandhi PC Kaza for earning the faith of the courts and authorities in the last 15 years. Stating that it took more than a year for furnishing the FSL report on DNA analysis in the Sunanda Pushkar high profile case, Lok Satta founder Jayaprakash Narayan said: “It’s a matter of shame for all of us. A mere Rs 5,000 crore annual expenditure on the forensic science wing would revolutionise the justice delivery system. It makes economic sense to have a robust criminal justice system in place.”Former director general of police C Anjaneya Reddy said each state should set up a department for forensic science. Former CJI Justice MN Venkatachalaiah, in his keynote address, lauded the efforts of Gandhi.