BENGALURU: Chairing a review meeting, the Karnataka Home Minister, Priyank Kharge, said that the state is among the leading states in the country in scientific accuracy, technological capability, and timely reporting in criminal investigations.
“The Directorate of Forensic Science Laboratories (FSL) has achieved accomplishments that the entire nation can be proud of,” Kharge said. The Minister visited the FSL office in Madiwala and noted that the Karnataka FSL has received accreditation from the National Accreditation Board and functions according to international quality standards.
He highlighted that the state’s digital and mobile forensics divisions have been granted the status of electronic evidence examiners under the IT Act. The minister also said that Karnataka FSL recently received the prestigious DSCI Award, presented to government institutions, for its outstanding digital forensic capabilities.
Kharge further stated that the Karnataka FSL earned nationwide appreciation for scientifically establishing links between the murders of Gauri Lankesh, MM Kalburgi, Narendra Dabholkar, and Govind Pansare through forensic analysis.
Announcing a new initiative, the minister said that all preparations have been completed to establish Karnataka’s first Wildlife Forensics Unit, which will begin operations shortly. The unit will assist in investigating wildlife crimes and illegal trafficking cases. He assured that the government would prioritise filling vacant posts in the FSL.
He also commended the department for significantly reducing the time taken to issue forensic reports. Despite an increase in the number of cases in recent years, the use of technology and improved efficiency has brought down the report generation period in several divisions from 40 months to just 1–4 months.
The meeting was attended by State Police Chief MA Saleem, IPS officials attached to FSL and scientific officers of FSL.