CHENNAI: The State forest department is planning to set-up a full-fledged dedicated forensic laboratory for wildlife, which will help crack wildlife crimes and increase the rate of conviction.
Currently, Tamil Nadu has an abysmal three per cent conviction rate of all cases registered under Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.Speaking to Express recently on the sidelines of the inauguration of Advanced Institute for Wildlife Conservation (AIWC) at Vandalur here, Shekhar Kumar Niraj, Chief Conservator of Forests (Protection and Vigilance - Northern Group), Chennai, said in any criminal investigation forensics holds the key and the same is applicable to wildlife crimes.
The proposed laboratory will come up in the AIWC building, where basic infrastructure needed is ready. “If we have `1 crore, we can meet the basic needs. To have a full-fledged laboratory in place it would cost around `10 crore,” he said and added that efforts are on to raise funds from different resources.
Niraj said once the laboratory is established, it would help examine, identify and compare evidence using a wide range of scientific procedures and instruments, in the attempt to link suspect, victim (animal) and crime scene with physical evidence.”
The forest department is getting results now by sending samples to either the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun or Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad. “CCMB charges about ` 2.5 lakh for examining one sample, which is not feasible. Also, it consumes a lot of time to get the results. This eventually affects prosecution. Our ground staff nab wildlife offenders risking their life at times, but in most cases the accused walk free due to lack of evidence. With forensic experts in the mix, it will help achieve higher wildlife crime conviction rates,” he said.Besides assisting investigators, forensics has also got other research applications in wildlife conservation like DNA profiling of species etc.