BENGALURU: In a landmark move, the Karnataka Legislature has amended Section 276 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) allowing evidence to be recorded through audio and video means in the presence of the accused and his lawyers before a sessions court. Since CrPC is a Central legislation, the amendment will require Presidential ratification.
Terming it a landmark move, Director General and Inspector General of Police (DG&IGP) Praveen Sood told TNIE that the amendment to Section 276 CrPC will help in speeding up trials before sessions courts.
“It is time- and resource-consuming for witnesses, investigating officers (IOs) and forensic experts to travel to record evidence before courts. The whole process has further been severely impacted due to the pandemic in the last 18 months. The amendment will clear these roadblocks,” said Sood.
In another important move to boost scientific investigation and collection of evidence, the legislature has passed the ‘Identification of Prisoners (Karnataka Amendment) Bill,’ which seeks to include collection of blood, DNA, voice and iris scan samples as “measurements” of offenders for effective surveillance and scientific investigation.
“We collect fingerprints of accused and Karnataka has one of the biggest data banks of finger prints in the country. But, in heinous cases, involving body and sexual assault, fingerprints alone cannot help in tracking and identifying criminals. DNA matching is critical in such cases and so is voice sample in cases involving threats, extortion calls and cyber offences, etc. The amended Act is futuristic and helps us look 10 years ahead so far as scientific investigation and collection of evidence are concerned,” said the DG&IGP.