JOIN US'Conviction rate in India declining'
Forensic doctors play an important role in cracking some of the most complicated cases, said Police Commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh after inaugurating ‘Forensicon 2011,’ the XIX Annual State Conference of Karnataka Medico-Legal Society (KAMLS) on Saturday. The theme of the conference was ‘Past, present and the future of Forensic Medicine’.
“Whenever we have got complex cases, we have relied on evidence given by doctors. One should not have ego clash when they work. Some of the interesting pieces of evidence have been lost due to lack of co-ordination,” he said.
Taking the help of a doctor in understanding the psychology of the criminal has helped the cops to crack cases initially.
Speaking about one of the cases, Singh said that a truck driver had stolen the items that were loaded in his truck. He then built evidences, as if the items were stolen from him. He told the cops that he had been drugged for three continuous days. However, the forensic doctors detected that he was not drugged and caught his lie and hence cracked the case, he said.
“The police department needs the deliberations that have taken place in the seminar. We can discuss them in crime meetings and take necessary inputs,” he said.
Nitte University Vice Chancellor Dr M Shantharam Shetty stressed on the need of ethics in medicine. “Teachers should teach their students what is right and wrong,” he said. Forensic science is a comprehensive department as all fields of medical science are involved in this field, he added.
Nitte University Chancellor N Vinaya Hegde said that there is a poor conviction rate as different departments are pulling the cases in different directions.
Many a time post mortem is done only as a ritual. Doctors should be factual and they should ensure that an innocent is not punished. “Restrict to the facts and don’t create information,” he said.
Seemanth Kumar Singh was made the life time member of KAMLS on the occasion. Vinay Hegde launched the website Bangalore Medical College Forensic Medicine HoD Dr P V Devadas, T N Medical College (Mumbai) Forensic Medicine HoD Dr Shailesh C Mohite, Amritha Institute of Medical Sciences (Cochin) Forensic Medicine Professor Dr V V Pillai and Shree Lakshminarayana Institute of Medical Sciences (Pondicherry) Forensic Medicine HoD Dr Uday Kumar were felicitated on the occasion.
Abhinaya of M S Ramaiah Medical College, Bangalore, received the best outgoing student award at the under-graduate level and Fairoz Khan of Vydehi Medical College, Bangalore, received the same at the post-graduate level.
Sessions today
The conference will have sessions on topics, ‘Trauma and Disease: The need to establish relationship in crime investigation’, ‘Are we heading the right way?’, ‘Odontological and Maxillofacial Investigation of the Annigeri skulls’ today.