Forensic Autopsy for Conviction in Indian Criminal Justice System

CRIMINOLOGY

Postmortem examination, also known as forensic autopsy, plays an important role in the analysis and investigation of crime. It is useful in establishing the element of the crime. At homicide scenes, forensic autopsy determines the manner of death and points to the potential causes leading to the death of the victim by categorizing it into accidental, suicidal, or homicidal cases. Evidence collected from autopsies can also act as associative evidence leading to convictions in the cases. While it is an important part of investigation, not much has been said about the medicolegal aspect of such autopsies especially in context to the Indian Criminal Justice System. Data suggests two major back draws – a) Lack of sufficient infrastructure for such analysis. This includes a shortage of labs and professionals who can perform the analysis and administer reports as evidence in courts. And b) the legal channel of how the autopsy report becomes evidence and the process through which it could be administered in courts and during investigations. Both point to a larger concern of interpretation of these case reports by investigators and law enforcement agencies. This paper aims to shed light on the process of forensic autopsies and how it is used in criminal investigations.

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