Kolkata: The recently published ‘India Justice Report 2025’ has flagged the urgent need for Bengal to ramp up its forensic capabilities by overcoming the significant challenges of high vacancy in sanctioned posts, infrastructure deficiencies and underfunding.
The report evaluates the capacity of India’s justice system across 36 states and Union Territories (UTs) on parameters such as performance of police, prison, judiciary. It examined Bengal’s forensic capacity drawing on government data from sources such as Right to Information (RTI) responses, Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) and the West Bengal Forensic Science Laboratory (WBFSL).
The report highlighted that the weak forensic capacity is exacerbating delays in criminal investigations, contributing to high case pendency (40 per cent of district court cases pending over three years) and a 76 per cent undertrial prison population. One of the biggest challenges is high staff shortages in the forensic units of the state. The report flagged that in Bengal, approximately 40–50 per cent of sanctioned posts unfilled in FSLs and district mobile forensic units (DMFUs), aligning with national trends where some states face over 50 per cent shortages.
The state operates the State Forensic Science Laboratory (SFSL) in Kolkata and a Regional Forensic Science Laboratory (RFSL) in Jalpaiguri. The SFSL includes specialized sections but serves a population of over 100 million with limited capacity, falling short of BPR&D’s recommended 1 FSL per 50 million population. Equipment shortages are prevalent, with outdated tools like HPLC and GC hindering advanced analysis, it was inferred. Bengal’s cyber forensic capabilities are strained due to limited dedicated units and trained personnel, a national issue where only 15 per cent of FSLs have such facilities, the statistics indicated and called for a forensic-specific budget allocation. The absence of robust cyber forensic units delays investigations into digital crimes, a growing concern in urban areas like Kolkata.
Suggestions included 10 per cent of police budget allocation to forensic modernization and creation of a dedicated forensic training budget to build expertise in DNA, toxicology and cyber forensics.
Establishing dedicated cyber forensic units in Kolkata and Jalpaiguri FSLs within one year and training at least 50 personnel annually in cybercrime investigation techniques. A March 17 article published in Millennium Post had reported that the state government is seeking to procure a ‘Ballistics Data Management System’ for the FSL Kolkata to enhance forensic capabilities in dealing with gun-related crimes.