Scientist should lead Telangana forensic lab, not IPS officer, claims PIL

Hyderabad: On Monday, a PIL in the Telangana High Court challenged the decision of the BRS Government in appointing an IPS officer as the director of the Telangana State Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL).

The Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice T Vinod Kumar, heard the PIL and directed the petitioner Pabbathi Sai Kumar, a law student from Hyderabad, to include Shikha Goel IPS to the Public Interest Litigation and adjourned the case for a week.

The counsel for the petitioner informed the court that the FSL plays a crucial role in assisting investigating officers in carrying out investigations by providing important findings about the case. The work by the FSL is directly related to convictions and acquittal of the accused and under these circumstances, the laboratory has to be headed by the forensic scientist only, not an IPS officer, said the counsel.

The Telangana FSL was headed by a forensic scientist since its inception, but from 2015 onwards, the BRS government has been posting an IPS officer to head the coveted FSL, in contravention of the rules promulgated in the National Accreditation Board of Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL). The NABL clearly stated that a forensic scientist should only be posed as the director, not any other officer from other departments, said the counsel. Since 2015, four IPS officers have been posted as the director of the FSL.