Journal of Advanced Zoology

ISSN: 0253-7214
Volume 43 Issue S-1 Year 2022 Page 537-543

Principles Governing Admissibility Of Forensic Evidence-A Critical Study

Lt Cdr Bharat Singh1*, Dr. Rakesh Kumari Malik2
1*
PhD. Research Scholar, SGT University, Gurugram
2
Assistant Professor SGT University, Faculty of Law, Gurugram

*Corresponding Author: Lt Cdr Bharat Singh

*PhD. Research Scholar, SGT University, Gurugram

Abstract

This research paper is analyses some of the key principles that govern
admissibility of forensic evidence. These principles are analysed doctrinally in
the light of various judgements and statutory provisions. The research paper
highlights that admissibility of forensic evidence is governed by principles of
natural justice, should be legally valid and not violate constitutional and legal
rights of its subject. The research paper signifies importance of collection,
preservation, handling and testing of forensic evidence through case analysis
CC License
along with its corroboration. Additionally, the paper highlights significance of
CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 experience of the forensic expert and reliability of the forensic tests.

MAIN BODY
“..…Forensic science is not just a science, it is an art; it requires skill, expertise, and a commitment to finding
the truth…….”

Justice Krishna Iyer

I -Introduction

The forensic science is an aid to courts in India to carry out fair trial and come to just conclusion about the
events that led to a crime. It helps elaborate events, that occurred prior, during and post of the crime. Often
evidence obtained through forensic sciences have helped the courts in identifying the motives of the criminal.
In State of U.P. v. Ashok Kumar Srivastava1 the trial court with forensic sciences, was able to establish that
the accused had caused death to his wife and mother-in-law owing to his extra-marital affairs by strangulation.
The Supreme Court had upheld his conviction in the case. Similarly, in State of H.P. v. Gian Chand2 the
prosecution agencies used forensic evidence to establish that the accused murdered his wife owing to illicit
relationship with other woman by poisoning. The agencies undertook viscera analysis from viscera samples
(stomach, small intestines, kidney, liver, spleen and heart etc) and carried out chemicals analysis which
confirmed presence of Aluminium Phosphide. Analysis of the blood samples also confirmed presence of
Aluminium Phosphide. Agencies further carried out forensic examination of the crime scene and seized various
samples including pesticide which were used to commit the crime by the accused. There are many ways various
fields of forensic sciences are employed to link perpetuators to the crime scene.
Forensic sciences are used in examination of physical evidence such as DNA, fingerprints, body fluid stains,
blood stains, hair samples etc collected from the crime scene to identify accused or the victim and link them to

1
State of U.P. v. Ashok Kumar Srivastava (1992) 2 SCC 86
2
State of H.P. v. Gian Chand (2001) 6 SCC 71
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crime. Similarly Digital Forensics employs variety of software tools on digital devices such as laptops, mobiles,
storage devices, personal computers, etc to uncover evidence from them. Ballistic Analysis involves inspection
and analysis of firearms, bullets and explosives by the experts to match them with samples obtained from crime
scene and link them to the perpetuators. The Forensic Psychology provides mental state of the perpetuators of
the crime or of the victims, it helps in identifying pattern or motive, it is also used to test the credibility of the
witness. Further the document examination using forensics helps analyse factors such as truthfulness of
signature, fingerprints, marks, originality of document, handwriting etc of the document.

II- Relevance of proper evidence

A large number of cases are pending before Indian Courts at evidence stage of the trial. As per the data
available on National Judicial Data Grid, among the total pending cases before the Indian courts approximately
53 percent of the cases i.e. 7,503,654 are held up at evidence stage. Out these, 5,812,175 are criminal cases and
923,584 are civil cases3. Evidence stage is crucial to outcome of trial of a case as it helps the court in
determining the truthfulness of the facts presented by parties to the case. The evidence stage may be considered
as the backbone to fair trail and ensuring justice. It helps identifying rights of a party in a civil case and identify
an accused in a criminal case. The evidence helps the court to thrash our right from wrong, distinguish facts
from fiction or conjecture in a case. The judgements based on evidence are cornerstone of justice and credible,
else they would be product of biased speculation. The justice also demands that accused must be given fair
hearing and proportional punishment to crime, and he must be protected from wrongful conviction. Evidence
therefore plays important role in identifying guilt from innocence beyond reasonable doubt. The evidence is
required to prove level of involvement and nature of crime participated in. It plays crucial role in conviction
and acquittal.

III-Admissibility of Forensic Evidence

Identifying factors that affect admissibility of evidence deserves highest priority and focus of judicio-legal
mind. The evidence must prove facts in issue and relevant facts. The evidence collected must be admissible in
the courts of law and in accordance with well-established principles and as per rule of law, it must be able to
prove facts beyond reasonable doubts. Thus, evidence must be legally obtained and from reliable and relevant
sources. A Judge is bound to ignore evidence in which probative value is less and has high chances of
misleading the case. When the evidence is unfairly prejudiced, causing unnecessary confusion and delay it is
likely to be held low on merits by the courts.
For forensic evidence to be admissible in court, and to be considered robust and reliable for courts to place
their judgements, it is important that procedures surrounding the collection, preservation and testing of forensic
samples are correct and as per established protocols. The forensic experts handling the sample and undertaking
the test are qualified enough, have adequate experience and have integrity. It is important that Forensic expert
carries out necessary preliminary test, he should further follow standard procedures like labelling, sealing and
preserving the samples. It is also important that forensic evidence should have probative value. That the
prosecution should be able to establish chain of custody and integrity of evidence. When any forensic sample
is collected and subjected to chemical analysis, care must be taken from the stage of extraction of sample, to
handling, preservation and analysis that the sample is not contaminated, also scientific protocols and principles
are followed. Often the courts have emphasised on the morality of the fact that needs to be proved using medical
or forensic methods to decide the admissibility of test, questions like paternity of child, or two-finger test in
Rape case fall under these categories. The documentation and quality control of the forensic procedures ensures
reliability of the test and prevents deviation. These test results need to be analysed and presented to the court
in a reliable manner as well.

IV-Scientific test must verify ‘facts in issue’ or ‘relevant facts’

One of the important grounds affecting admissibility of forensic evidence is that the evidence should be
pertaining to the facts in issue or relevant facts. In other words, the forensic or scientific evidence obtained
must be able to provide information about the matter being presided by the court and contribute positively to
it. The DNA, bloodstain, or stain of body fluid at the scene of crime of murder may be relevant in determining
the presence of an accused. Similarly, if the scientific test is unlikely to assist in obtaining any material relevant

3
Pending Dashboard, National Judicial Data Grid, available at:
https://njdg.ecourts.gov.in/njdgnew/?p=main/pend_dashboard, (last visited on 23 Feb 2023)
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 Journal Of Advance Zoology

to investigation of relevant facts or facts in issue the same may be discarded by the court as in admissible. In
the view of the above it is imperative that the term ‘facts’, ‘facts in issue’ and ‘relevant facts’ are understood
in right context. The Section 3 Interpretation clause of the Indian Evidence Act, 18724 defines: -
“…. Fact: means and includes: -
(1) Anything, state of things or relation of things, capable of being perceived by senses.
(2) Any mental condition of which any person is conscious…….”
“…..Relevant: One fact is said to be relevant to another when the one is connected with the other in any of the
ways referred to in the provisions of this Act relating to relevancy of facts….”
“…Facts in issue: The expression ‘ facts in issue’ means and includes any fact from which, either by itself or
in connection with other facts, the existence, non-existence, nature or extent of any right , liability, or disability,
asserted or denied in any suit or proceeding, necessarily follows….”
In the State of Jharkhand V. Shailendra Kumar Rai@ Pandav Rai5 the Supreme court held that the two-
finger test conducted by the medical board to determine whether victim to alleged Rape and Sexual assault is
habituated to sexual intercourse should not be conducted, that the same has no scientific basis or role in
determining the rape or offence under section 375 of the I.P.C6.

V-The scientific tests must have legal validity

For the scientific evidence to be produced before court for admission, it must be legally valid and tenable. Also,
the scientific procedures for examination must be reliable and accurate, which could be easily verified. This
requires forensic-scientific test to be done in accordance with established protocols. In the case of Smt. Selvi
and others v. State of Karnataka7 a batch of criminal appeals before the Hon’ble Supreme Court raised
questions pertaining to legal validity and admissibility of evidence obtained from involuntary administration
of certain scientific techniques such as polygraph examination, narcoanalysis, Brain Electrical Activation
Profile (BEAP) test for assisting state agencies in investigation.
The court held that compulsory administration of the impugned techniques violates fundamental rights of the
subject specially violating right against self-incrimination under Article 20(3) of the Constitution of India. The
Supreme Court further held that using such techniques violated “substantive due processes” for violation of
personal liberty as the test result could expose person to variety of adverse consequences of non-penal nature.
These techniques are intrusion to mental privacy and affects right to fair trial. The guidelines published by
National Human Rights Commission 2000 must be strictly adhered to, and Lie-detector test should not be
administered except on the basis of consent of the accused, with consequences clearly explained both by police
and his lawyer.

VI- Forensic test to be done as per established protocols

That in State of Uttar Pradesh V. Satish8 the Apex court held that for forensic evidence has to be admissible
and reliable. The court further held that for the forensic evidence to admissible it must be ensured that the
forensic experts follow proper protocols, as well as procedure. The case arose from appeal filed in the Supreme
Court against Allahabad High Court Judgement, which had upheld the Trial court judgement, acquitting the
accused of charges of murder under section 302 of Indian Penal Code9. The prosecution’s case was that accused
had accused had strangled his wife and tried to burn her to destroy the evidence. The prosecution submitted
report of chemical examiner as forensic evidence to prove presence of kerosene in the victim’s body along with
testimonies of many witnesses was taken. The Supreme Court agreed with the High Court and Trial Court
verdict stating that forensic evidence submitted by the prosecution had not been obtained through proper
procedures and is unreliable. Therefore, court held that chemical examiner’s report does not inspire confidence
as per established procedures. The Chemical examiner had failed to follow prescribed protocol for extraction,
testing and identification of petroleum product found on the body. The chemical examiner had further failed to
undertake preliminary test to eliminate possibility of contamination. The Apex Court further remarked that that
the forensic tests were not as per established procedures, and adequate protection preventing contamination of

4
Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (Act no. 1 of Parliament of India, 1872)
5
State of Jharkhand V. Shailendra Kumar Rai@ Pandav Rai (2022)AIR(SC) 5393
6
Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Act No. 45 of Parliament of India, 1860)
7
Smt. Selvi and others v. State of Karnataka(2010) 2AICLR 605
8
State of Uttar Pradesh v. Satish, (2005) 3 SCC 114
9
Supra 6
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 Journal Of Advance Zoology

samples were not taken. The court further opined that qualification, integrity and experience of forensic expert
are pre-requisite to establish reliability and admissibility of forensic evidence.

VII-Qualification relevant for forensic expert.

The usefulness of a forensic expert is his ability to give useful evidence for matter being addressed before the
court. The Forensic Expert must always qualify himself by including in his opening statement information
about his educational qualification, years of experience, training and publications. The basic principle is that
the forensic expert must have reliable knowledge and skill to conduct the forensic test. In the case of Najib
Singh V. State of Punjab10 when the medical issue pertaining to X-Ray report of skull injury were argued.
The testimony of the doctor was challenged by the counsel, who relied on Modi’s Medical Jurisprudence. It
was held by the court that the doctor only had 11 months of his own experience and no special training or
education in radiology, and could not be regarded as an expert under section 45 of The Indian Evidence Act,
1872.

VIII- Corroborated forensic evidence is admissible

Often the Indian judicial system has expressed the need for forensic evidence to be corroborated with other
form of evidence specially when there is a conflict or contradictory reporting of facts. The Hon’ble Supreme
Court in the case of Solanki Chimanbhai Ukabhai V. State of Gujrat11 relied on medical evidence as it was
supported by ocular evidence denying ‘minor inconsistencies’ arguments given by defence and held as
following:-

“…Ordinarily, the value of medical evidence is only corroborative. It proves that the injuries could have been
caused in the manner alleged and nothing more. The use which the defence can make of the medical evidence
is to prove that the injuries could not possibly have been caused in the manner alleged can thereby discredit
the eye-witnesses. Unless, however, the medical evidence in its turn goes so far that it completely rules out all
possibilities, whatsoever of injuries taking place in the manner alleged by the eye-witnesses, the testimonies of
the eye-witnesses cannot be thrown out on the ground of alleged inconsistencies between it and medical
evidence…..”

IX-Doctrine of virtue of subsequent event

The Indian Courts have often upheld the doctrine of virtue of subsequent event, wherein if during the course
of investigation, when the accused is arrested and a fact is discovered which has a direct bearing with crime
and provides information on the crime, such fact or information will be considered true and admissible
evidence. This additionally has to be corroborated by other evidence if required. In State of Maharashtra v.
Damu Shinde12 The Apex Court upheld the principle of integrity of evidence and its chain of custody in this
case. The court deliberated on the probative value of the evidence under section 27 of the Indian Evidence
Act13 under ‘doctrine of virtue of subsequent event’. The court upheld the principle that if any fact is discovered
under the process of investigation being undertaken on the information obtained from an accused or arrested
person, such discovery is a confirmation that the information supplied by the accused or arrested person is
correct and admissible as evidence. As per the facts of the case the accused had murdered three children from
neighbourhood under the advice of occult practitioner ‘guruji’ to uncover hidden treasure from land. The
accused confessed before the judicial magistrate of the gruesome way of committing the murder. The nature
of confession, and long prior period of arrest created reasonable doubts regarding coercion and absence of
freedom to extract confession. The court opined that confession alone cannot be basis of convicting, and there
must be corroborating evidence. As for the facts of the case, for the purpose of occult practice, the accused
Balu Joshi had kidnapped the three children, mutilated their genital organ and killed them after collecting their
blood. The accused disposed of the body in nearby canal thereafter. Further, the discovery of the body based
on the confession and its autopsy thereafter on the recovered body, revealed that the penis of the child was cut-
off and the corpse had injury to the skull for occult ritual. This corroborated the facts with confession made by
the accused to convict them. Additionally, from the scene of crime broken piece of glass was found, which was

10
Najib Singh V. State of Punjab, 1987 S.C. Cr. R. 25 at p.27
11
Solanki Chimanbhai Ukabhai V. State of Gujrat A.I.R. 1983 S.C. 484
12
State of Maharashtra v. Damu (2000) 6 SCC 269
13
Supra 4
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part of tail lamp of a bike found from the house of one of the accused guruji -an occult practitioner confirming
doctrine of confirmation of subsequent event as embedded in section 21 of the Evidence Act. Additionally,
from the accused Balu Joshi’s home a list of herbs to be procured for occult ceremony was recovered which
was confirmed by handwriting expert to be that of another accused Mukinda Thorat in its report, but the report
was inadmissible as the expert could not be cross-examined. The accused were punished with life imprisonment
for murder u/s 302 by the Supreme Court.
The ‘doctrine of confirmation of subsequent event’ was also emphasised by Privy Council in Pulukuri
Kottaya v. Emperor14 in which it was held that “…place from which the object was produced, the knowledge
of the accused as to it, but the information given must relate distinctly to that effect….”.

X- Scientific evidence affecting rights of third party are inadmissible

Often the Indian courts seems to exercise extreme restraint and caution in evaluating forensic and scientific
evidence, when the fact(s), though relevant to the case have aspects of social morality associated with it. The
DNA test, though necessary to establish paternity of a child born out of adulterous relationship in a matrimonial
dispute is often looked down upon by the courts, and the courts reluctantly order such test, primarily because
the child is not party to the dispute. In Aparna Ajinkya Firodia v Ajinkya Arun Firodia15 the division bench
of the Supreme Court comprising B.V. Nagarathna and V. Ramasubbramanian. The respondent-husband had
alleged adultery on wife in a matrimonial case and had filed application before the Hon’ble family court to
subject his second child master Arjun Singh to deoxyribonucleic acid test (DNA test) to ascertain the paternity
of the child. The child was born during the subsistence of the marriage. The respondent-husband had discovered
adultery of his wife while checking her phone, on being confronted she admitted to her adulterous past. The
respondent-husband, thereafter obtained DNA test of the second child from a private lab which confirmed
absence of genetic markers of respondent as father, confirming adultery of the child. To prove his case the
husband filed an application for DNA test in the court. The application was allowed by the family court and
allowed by the High Court as well. But turned down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The Hon’ble Supreme
Court held the following: -
“….34. It is contended by Mr. Kapil Sibal, learned senior counsel for the respondent that after all the
endeavour of every court should be to find truth and that every party to a litigation is entitled to produce the
best evidence. Enabling the party to produce the best evidence, is part and parcel of right to fair trial.
Therefore, it is contended by learned senior counsel that the refusal to subject the child to DNA test would
infringe upon the respondent right to fair trial. To buttress the contention that the right to privacy of an
individual must yield to the right to fair trial of another, reliance is placed upon the decision of this court in
Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Limited & Ors. Vs. Securities and Exchange Board of India &Anr.,
(2012) 10 SCC 603.
35. Attractive as it may seem at first blush, the said argument does not carry any legal weight. The lis in these
cases is between the parties to a marriage. The lis is not between one of the parties to the marriage and the
child whose paternity is questioned. To enable one of the parties to the marriage to have the benefit of fair
trial, the court cannot sacrifice the rights and best interest of a third party to the lis, namely child.
36. Therefore, I concur wholeheartedly with my learned sister that the Family Court as well as the High Court
were wrong in allowing the application of the respondent for subjecting the child to DNA test. Therefore, the
appeal deserves to be allowed and accordingly it is allowed. However, this shall not preclude the respondent-
husband from leading any other evidence to establish the allegations made by him against the appellant in the
petition for divorce……”.

XI-Conclusion

The admissibility of forensic evidence is governed by principles of natural justice. The scientific evidence
should be legally valid and should not violate constitutional and legal rights of its subject. It is important that
special emphasis is given to collection, preservation, handling and testing of forensic evidence. The scientific
test applied on the forensic evidence must be reliable and verifiable. This can only happen when the forensic
and scientific test are done as per well defined and established protocol. The education, training, experience of
the forensic expert weighs on the admissibility and reliability of the forensic tests. Often it is seen that more
than one evidence is required for corroboration. Also, a live witness to the event is given more credibility over
scientific analysis of evidence collected.

14
Pulukuri Kottaya v. Emperor AIR 1947 PC 67 : 74 IA 65
15
Aparna Ajinkya Firodia v Ajinkya Arun Firodia SLP(C)No. 9855 of 2022
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Constitution of India, 1950.
1. The Acts of parliament
• The Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Act no. 5 of 1908)
• Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (Act no. 1 of 1872)
• Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Act No. 45 of 1860)
• The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Act no. 2 of 1974)

2. Codes and Guidelines

• Directorate of Forensic Sciences Services, Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India, CGO Complex, Delhi,
“Standard Operating Procedures for Crime Scene Investigation” (2022)
• Central Forensic Science Laboratory Chandigarh, “Working Procedure Manual Forensic Biology- 2019”
(2019)
• Central Forensic Science Laboratory Chandigarh, “Working Procedures Manual Forensic DNA Testing-
2019”, (2019)

3. Books
• Shakil Ahmad Khan, Volume no 1, P Ramanath Aiyars’s Advanced Law Lexicon, 140 (LexisNexis, Delhi,
5th Edition, 2017).
• Central Forensic Science Laboratory Chandigarh, “Working Procedures Manual Forensic DNA Testing-
2019”, (2019)
• Justice K Kanan, Modi A Textbook of Medical Jurisprudence and Toxicology (LexisNexis, Gurgaon 25th
edn, 2016)

4. Articles
• J Neufeld, N Colman, “When Science takes the witness stand”, Scientific American (1990).
• Rachel Baxter, “Types of cells in the human body”, KenHub, 28 Dec 2022, available at
https://www.kenhub.com/en/library/anatomy/types-of-cells-in-the-human-body (Last visited on 31 Mar
2023)
• Tim Newman, “What is a cell?”, MedicalNewsToday, 24 Aug 2022, available at
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320878 (Last visited on 31 Mar 2023)
• Subhash Chandra Singh, DNA PROFILING AND THE FORENSIC USE OF DNA EVIDENCE IN
CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS, Vol 53, No.2, Journal of Indian Law Institute, 195-226(Apr-Jun 2011)
• Deoxyribonucleic Acid(DNA) Fact Sheet, National Human Genome Research Institute, available at
https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/fact-sheets/Deoxyribonucleic-Acid-Fact-Sheet
• Ak Marjan Sjerps, A Quak, ‘ Error Rates in forensic DNA Analysis: Definition, numbers, impact and
communication’, Forensic Science International: Genetics(2014).

5. Websites
• Pending Dashboard, National Judicial Data Grid, available at forensic:
https://njdg.ecourts.gov.in/njdgnew/?p=main/pend_dashboard, (last visited on 23 Feb 2023)
• Oxford Learner’s dictionaries, available at
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/admissibility (last visited on 24 Mar 2023)
• https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/demonstration
• https://www.livelaw.in/
• https://www.barandbench.com/
• https://www.scconline.com/
• https://indiankanoon.org/
• https://lawmin.gov.in/
• https://doj.gov.in
• https://legalaffairs.gov.in
• https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/

6. Table of Cases
• State of U.P. v. Ashok Kumar Srivastava (1992) 2 SCC 86
• State of H.P. v. Gian Chand (2001) 6 SCC 71
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• State of Jharkhand V. Shailendra Kumar Rai@ Pandav Rai (2022)AIR(SC) 5393

• Smt. Selvi and others v. State of Karnataka(2010) 2AICLR 605
• State of Uttar Pradesh v. Satish, (2005) 3 SCC 114
• Najib Singh V. State of Punjab, 1987 S.C. Cr. R. 25
• Solanki Chimanbhai Ukabhai V. State of Gujrat A.I.R. 1983 S.C. 484
• State of Maharashtra v. Damu (2000) 6 SCC 269
• Pulukuri Kottaya v. Emperor AIR 1947 PC 67 : 74 IA 65
• Aparna Ajinkya Firodia v Ajinkya Arun Firodia SLP(C)No. 9855 of 2022
• Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Limited & Ors. Vs. Securities and Exchange Board of India &Anr.,
(2012) 10 SCC 603

INDEX OF ABBREVIATION
ABBREVATION MEANING/ EXPANSION
@ Alias
A.I.R. All India Reporter
A.I.R.-S.C. All India Reporter (Supreme Court)
AICLR All India Commercial Law Review
Anr. Another
Cr.P.C. The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973
C.P.C. The Civil Procedure Code 1908
DNA De Oxyribonucleic acid
GoI Government of India
IEA Indian Evidence Act, 1872
I.P.C. The Indian Penal Code, 1860
Ors Others
SCC Supreme Court Cases
S.C.Cr.R. Supreme Court Criminal Ruling
S.L.P.(C) Special Leave petition
Sec, s section
V. Versus
Vs Versus

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