More forensic evidence to be used to nail criminals: Fadnavis

Maharashtra government will make increased use of forensic evidence to nail criminals, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today said while listing the steps taken to improve law and order situation in the state.
"Forensic evidence is irrefutable. In cases like the Javkheda murder case, we had to send samples to other states because we did not have the sufficient technology to gather evidence. This will not happen anymore," Fadnavis said in the Legislative Council here while replying to a motion for discussion on law and order moved by Leader of Opposition Dhananjay Munde in the Upper House.
He was referring to the brutal killing of three members of a Dalit family at Javkheda village in Ahmednagar district in October last year.

"We will be starting two additional forensic laboratories in the state that will have the latest equipment and technology. The present labs are not strong enough and need new recruitments along with new equipment," he said.
Presently, there is a pendency of three years for voice samples, Fadnavis said, adding that guidelines will be framed to ensure that samples are checked within seven days.
He also said women police stations alone will not help in reducing crimes against women due to jurisdiction problems. The government has decided to compulsorily deploy women officers in all police stations to address the problem.

On the issue of strict penalty for chain snatching, he said, "Crimes like chain snatching were (earlier) taken lightly where the accused used to get bail within a day. We have now added sub-section (A) to section 392, where rigorous punishment will be awarded to the accused."

He also said that police officials will be provided lawyers to tackle tricky cases and a panel of lawyers will help them nail convicts.
"We have also constituted a committee comprising the Advocate General and the Law Secretary who will suggest us the lawyers who should be appointed by the government. This will bring in transparency in the process," Fadnavis said.

He also said that a 1,000-strong police force is being readied to specially tackle cyber crimes and government aims to start a cyber crime lab in every city of the state.
"In order to remove objectionable content from social networking sites, we have to currently approach the CERT in Delhi. By the time we get requisite permissions the damage is already done. We have thus requested the Centre to start a branch of CERT in the state as well," Fadnavis added.