SHILLONG, Sep 29: Union Minister of State for Law and Justice, SP Singh Baghel has advised the Meghalaya government to set up a well-equipped forensic science laboratory (FSL) for improving the rate of conviction in the state.
He told media persons here on Wednesday that the police need well-equipped facilities for conducting DNA, narco and other tests. If these can be conducted in the state, the conviction rate will improve, he said.
The statement assumes significance given that the Meghalaya Police are forced to wait for a long time to receive the reports of FSL samples that are sent to places outside the state for tests. This delays investigation.
Asking the state authorities to maintain vigil against cybercrime, also called computer crime, Baghel said very few crimes such as bank robbery and murders take place in Meghalaya as compared to Uttar Pradesh.
However, the Minister, who is in the state to review the implementation of some Central government schemes, expressed concern over the problem of narcotics.
Asked about the backlog of a large number of POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) cases in the state, he said various factors lead to delay in conviction in such cases. He said the complainantand the witnesses need to be active during trial.
Stating that Meghalaya has no dearth of judicial officers, he expressed happiness that the lower courts in the state have more female judges than their male counterparts.
“We have 32 female judges and 22 male judges. If we implement the reservation system, it will be a problem here,” the Minister quipped.
He held a meeting with Law Minister, James Sangma and the officers of the Law department. During a meeting with the bar council of the High Court, he discussed several issues concerning the bar.
