NFSU to start 9 more campuses in a year: Amit Shah

NEW DELHI: Nine more campuses of the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) will be opened across the country in a year, said union home minister Amit Shah. He was addressing the 5th International and 44th All India Criminology Conference of the National Forensic Science University (NFSU) in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, today. The minister said that with the new campuses, one campus will be available in every other state of the country.

In his address, Shah said that this conference is being inaugurated at a time when India's criminal justice system is entering a new era. He said that India has abolished the 150-year-old original laws of criminal justice and introduced new laws. He said that two of the major issues in these three laws are related to this conference - first, to deliver timely justice and second, to curb crimes by increasing the conviction rate.

The home minister added that we have taken a bold decision and it has been made mandatory for a Forensic Science Officer to visit the crime scene of offences which have a punishment of seven years or more. He said that this will simplify the investigation, make it easier for judges and will also make the prosecution simple. This will also help us increase the conviction rate. Efforts are also being made to modernise the entire process. Shah said that India's criminal justice system will be the most modern system in the world in fiver-year's time.

The union minister said that integrating the criminal justice system, technology and forensic investigation was a big challenge. The Modi government has given a lot of importance to forensic science in the investigation, prosecution and judicial process on the basis of three new laws. This is going to open up a huge field for the youth.

Shah said that with the help of forensic technology, we have been able to protect the independence, autonomy and fairness of investigation in a good way by giving it legal cover. He said with these three laws, terms like 'Ease of Justice' and 'Ease of Policing' will eventually prevail. After intensive hard work, the Ministry of Home Affairs has prepared many databases in the last five years and a lot of work is also being done on data integration, he added.