Forensic Science is the application of scientific principles for the investigation of crime. All the clues that are from a crime scene are analyzed by forensic scientists on the crime scene or in a crime laboratory and are converted into evidences worth producing in legal courts.
The word forensic comes from the Latin adjective forensis, meaning "of or before the forum"
Forensic scientists should have the ability to analyze all physical evidence found on a victim or on the scene of a crime and compare it to evidence found on a suspect and provide expert testimony in a court of law. The evidences might include traces of blood, saliva, other body fluids, hair, fingerprints, explosives, specimens of tissue for poisons, blood and urine for alcohol, footwear and tyre impression etc. The expertise of a forensic scientist lies in the determination of facts using these evidences and in preparing a report of their investigation and appear in the court to give expert opinion on the case worked upon. They work closely with the police to provide scientific evidence that is admissible in the court.
FORENSIC IN INDIA:
The application of science and technology to the detection and investigation of crime and administration of justice is not new to India. Although our ancestors did not know forensic science in its present form, scientific methods in one way or the other seem to have been followed in the investigation of crime. Its detailed reference is found in Kautilya’s ‘Arthashastra,’ which was written about 2300 years ago. Indians studied various patterns of the papillary lines, thousands of years ago. It is presumed that they knew about the persistency and individuality of fingerprints, which they used as signatures. Even Mr. KM Kata, a frequent contributor to ‘Nature’, stated that the Chinese records proved the use of fingerprints in an ancient kingdom of southern India. The Indians knew for long that the handprints, known as the Tarija’, were inimitable. The use of fingerprints as signatures by illiterate people in India, introduced centuries ago, was considered by some people as ceremonial only, till it was scientifically proved that identification from fingerprints was infallible.
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