Forensic science, AM lectures

Lecture I – Need and nature of forensic science

Helps in answering the questions of Who (committed the crime), What (happened at the crime
scene, implicates the nature of the offence), When (time of the crime, the age of the crime), Where
(place where the crime is/could have been committed), How (how was the crime committed, any
modus operandi of the offender), Why (intention behind the crime committed).

Contributions of Forensic Science

1. Corpus Delicti- Establishment of Corpus Delicti. This is a prima facie evidence that speaks for
itself that the crime has been committed.
2. Evaluation of the statements- The statements made by victim, suspects and witnesses can
be evaluated to see if the statements made contradict or support the findings at the crime
scene.
3. Identification of the substances- The scientific examination of physical evidence can help in
identifying the substances that are used for committing the crime.
4. Identification of an individual- The scientific examination helps identifying the physical
evidence for the identification of an individual
5. Provides Investigative leads
6. Establishes Linkages- Within the scene, eliminates/raises suspects related to an individual

Need of forensic science

Social Changes, Anonymity, Technical Knowledge, Wide Field (tech enhancement), Better Evidence
(scientific and viable than Alternatives)

AM-II- Scope and branches of forensic science

Talks about the areas and branches which are borrowed from various sciences such as physics,
chem, biology and medicines and also those branches that are unique to the forensics.

 Forensic Chemistry- Chemical tests done on the evidences

 Forensic Biology- Biological crime scene collected from the body of a person (hair, saliva,
blood)
 Forensic Physics- Application of physics. (Gravity, velocity, etc.)
 Forensic Pathology- Autopsy conducted along with the medical team.
 Forensic Osteology- Study of the bones, skulls, and remains of the same.
 Forensic Odontology- Study of the dentures of the person. (possible to find the person with
just this)
 Forensic Anthropology- Osteology has taken over anthropology. This is a pure social science
domain.
 Forensic Toxicology- Conducted with the chemicals, helps in identifying the poison.
 Forensic Psychiatry and psychology- Brain mapping, Polygraph, etc
 Cyber forensics- Virtual world ke offences
 Questioned Documents- Forges docs, etc
 Voce analysis- Kidnapping and shizz
 Photography- compression and preserving the crime scene
 Ballistics- Fire arm analysis.
  Forensic engineering dept

Scientific methods

1. Careful observation shall be done of the evidence

2. Formulation of the hypothesis- Assumptions.
3. Evidence Recognition
4. Classification
5. Individualization
6. Reconstruction

AM-III, Expert Opinion

Someone who has specialized knowledge in a particular subject, presumed to have more extra
knowledge than that of an average person. Has some specialty in any matter. One who examines the
evidences I the lab and makes observations and draws up the conclusions.

Expert opinion is the opinion of any person other than the judge. Expert can give the opinion about
the facts in issue. An expert prepares charts and illustrations to make the opinion and conclusions
more intelligible.

Experts are covered under section 45 of the Indian Evidence Act and section 293 of the CrPC. Written
reports are also accepted as evidence without any personal attendance.

Characteristics of an expert-

1. He should be thorough with his examination

2. He shall prepare the notes and illustrations after consultation with the superiors and sub
ordinates.
3. He shall be well versed with the latest developments
4. He can take the previous case laws discussed to form an opinion. Can take help of literature
and articles
5. The conclusions shall be clear and not ambiguous, definite and brief.
6. Th degree of accuracy shall also be mentioned.
7. Shall be in the layman’s language.
8. The expert must only state what the scientific evidence are stating. It should be such that
the same is verifiable and only based on scientific tests.

Qualifications: -

Proper training, experience, research work, books, there shall be some teaching and training
programs conducted to be an expert.

Report prepared shall include-

The laboratory case and report number, case refences. Date of the receipt and mode of the receipt,
description of the packages, contents in the packages, the exhibits, the Fir report number, the
questionnaire (questions pertaining to the crime scene, the I.O. shall give the questions and analysis
thereafter shall be conducted) date of examination, Experiments/observations and conclusions,
Name of the examiner and his details, mode of identification.
AM-IV, Physical Evidences

 An evidence can be defined as “Something legally submitted to a competent tribunal as a

means of ascertaining the truth of any alleged matter of fact under investigation before it”

 Physical evidence is any evidence introduced in a trial in the form of a physical object,
intended to prove a fact in issue based on its demonstrable physical characteristics. (It
should be able to be demonstrated in the court of law to prove/disprove some point)

 Physical evidence can conceivably include all or part of any object

Basic niche of physical evidences.

 Can prove crime has been committed or establish key elements of a crime (If any bullet is
found at the crime scene, helps in showing crime is committed)

 Can place the suspect in contact with the victim or with the crime scene.

 Can establish the identity of persons associated with the crime in a scientific manner.
Assumptions not allowed in Forensics. (fingerprints, blood)

 Exonerate the victim (to make sure that the victim is actually associated with the crime
scene)

 Can corroborate the victim’s testimony (to see if the victim is stating the truth or not)

 More reliable than eyewitnesses

Class characteristics (puts the evidence in a particular class or a particular group wherein a number
of entities have a similar characteristic)

 Describe the physical object and limit the likelihood that similar object exists

 The greater the number of class characteristics that can be associated with a given object,
the smaller the category within which the object can be placed. (Eg- A hair Strand collected
from the crime scene, and if there are 10 primary suspects, the waves, length, etc which can
be associated with the hair strand, the smaller the category within which it can be placed)

 The larger the number of class characteristics, the greater the value in an investigation

 Physical evidence with class characteristics may have more than one possible source.

Individual characteristics

 Establish a physical object’s difference/uniqueness from all others within its group. (DNA)

 Establish the unique identity of an object or its source to the exclusion of all others. (others
can be easily excluded)

Common physical evidences- Hair, blood, semen, saliva, tool marks, impressions, explosives, plastic
bags, drugs, fibers.

AM V, Injuries
  A wound or injury is defined as termination of natural continuity of any of the tissues of the
living body. (Human body is a system and works in a flow, whenever there is any breakage
because of an external force, that is called as a wound or injury)

 Any external force that crosses the threshold limit or the limits of elasticity, by virtue of any
external force.

 Any physical damage to the body caused by violence or accident

 Legally as per section 44 IPC; injury is defined as any harm caused illegally to a person i.e. to
his body, mind, reputation or body

Factors

 Amount of Force applied

 Distribution of Force

 The transfer of the force through the body

 Nature of target tissue

 Direction of the force

Classification of injures

Injury/ Medico-Legal Classification (used by medical practitioner when there is a fair reason to
classify into this category.)

Depending upon severity and the intensity)

Simple Injury and Grievous Injury (320 of IPC)

 Mechanical (any breakage because of aberration when injury is only on the superficial layer
of the skin. Included bruises called conduction where the blood vessels get ruptured.)

 Thermal (excessive heat or excessive cold)

 Chemical Injuries- when in contact by any chemical, such as corrosive acid etc. Disruption in
the natural continuation of the body.

 False injuries- misleading in nature.

 Defensive injury

 The medico Legal classifiers also check weather the injury was caused before or after the
death. (antemortem and postmortem) Medico legal case basically means that if the doctor
feels there is any legal implication, the same shall be considered by that. If the case is
bought by the police even then it is called a medico legal injury.

AM- VI, Medico Legal aspects of death

Thanatology is the scientific study of death.

Complete, permanent and irreversible stoppage of respiration, circulation and brain function. Failure
of these lead to death. Death is a process.

• Defined by Physician “total stoppage of circulation and cessation of vital functions, such as
respiration and pulsation”

• Shapiro scientist “The irreversible loss of the properties of living matter”

There are two phases of death,

1. Somatic Death (soma means body) somatic death is the death of the body. Systemic death,
clinical death, legal death.

• Failure of the body as an integrated system

• Loss of circulation, respiration

• Irreversible consciousness, (Heart Stops, Lungs stops, Brain activity stops, Muscles
floppy, Body cools down)

2. Molecular death is the death of organs and the vital functions. They eventually disintegrate.
Vulnerability of organs to oxygen deprivation. Heart: 60 mins, Liver: 15 mins, Kidney: 45
mins, Blood: 6 hours, Bone Marrow: 6 Hours etc. This is the reason how we can transplant
the organs, when a person is in this phase.
3. Brain Death- Complete loss of consciousness. Complete loss of consciousness/absence of
brainstem function/reflexes, Unreceptivity/unresponsiveness, No reflexes. No matter how
healthy the individual is, the absence of any of these functions is called as brain death.
4. Sudden Death- Which occurs within 24 hours from the onset of the first symptom.
Pathologist accept when its within 1 hour.
5. Natural Death- due to disease, old age
6. Unnatural death- Suicide, poison, accidental death

Mode of Death

a. Coma- Failure of brain functions, (in autopsy, usually there is a congestion of brain
membranes)
b. Syncope-Failure of heart functions (the capillaries appear to be congested)
c. Asphyxia- Failure of respiratory system (Hemorrhages, marks on the neck)

Howards Criteria to Diagnose Death

Non-receptive for stimuli & there if no response, no movement for 1 hour & breathing, No
spontaneous breathing for 3 minutes after switching off the artificial means, No reflexes, No EEG,

Late changes like mummification, petrification, flaccidity, skin changes, muscular flaccidity.

AM- VII, Forensic examination of skeletal remains

The field of study that deals with the analysis of human skeletal remains resulting from unexplained
death. Identifying the person just by the skeletal remains. Comes into play when skeletal remain is
the only evidence that is present.
 • Forensic Anthropologist- Deals with the examination of the skeletal remains. It shall be
proved that the remains collected are real bones, if they belong to the human body, if they
all belong to the same person or not, estimating the time of death and the cause of death,
gender, race, age, height. Investigation from human skeletal remains is usually in estimation
based on the scientific analysis. 206 bones are present.

• Age can be estimated. Teeth are one of the best evidences that can help in this estimation of
age. If the person is between the age of 6-25 then, epiphyseal fusion of the bones take place
within the human body. If it is 40 plus, then if there is arthritis, occupational stress etc.

• Gender can be determined to see if the person is a male victim or a female victim. Male has
the pelvic bone. The skulls are different. Cranium bone (skull bone). The jaw is wide and
robust, big forehead slope, the scientific calculations are done of the ratio which help in the
determination of the gender

• Some races have some characteristics by mathematical calculation of the indexes. Nasal
index etc. Stature or height of the person, the longest bone in the body known as the femur,
the length of the femur is calculated and a mathematic formula is used and it helps in
determining the height of the person by calculating the height of the victim.

Height of body (male)= 147.85CM + 0.5922 x length of the femur bone

Height of body (female)= 143.76 + 0.3695 x length of the femur bone

The time can also be estimated.

• Also includes osteology which is the study of the bones present in the human body.

AM-VIII, Medical Negligence

• Negligence is culpable (punishable) carelessness - conduct which involves an unreasonably

great risk of causing harm to another.

• Medical negligence is an act or omission by a health care provider which deviates from
accepted standards of practice in the medical community and which causes injury to the
patient.

• Negligence is defined as the omission to do something which a reasonable man guided upon
those considerations which ordinarily regulate the conduct of human affairs, would do, or
doing something which a prudent and reasonable man would not do.

Three Forms:

• That in which the consequences are foreseen and wrongfully intended.

• That in which they are not intended but are foreseen and should have been avoided.

• That in which they are neither foreseen nor intended, but ought to have been
foreseen and avoided.

Elements:
A Plaintiff, A duty of care owed (person supposed to have been provided that care), A duty was
breached or failed, Damage. If these elements are there in a case, then it is a case of medical
negligence. The same can only occur, when there is a doctor patient relationship is present.

Approved practices of the medical world have to be followed. Some kind of mis diagnosis etc. Risk of
treatment is not negligence but there need to be reasonable care and some clinical ethics need to be
followed. The BOP lies on the plaintiff/patient. Medical record is a principle evidence.

There are certain defenses that are listed under IPC. Liabilities are direct in nature, which is when
hospital violates the trust and vicarious liability is when someone is held liable. This is a manner in
which the hospital can be held liable.

Section 52 talks about good faith. Section 80 talks about an accident in doing a lawful act, Section 81
talks about the act liable to cause harm but done without criminal intent. If the doctor does not
charge the fees, then he will not be liable under consumer protection. But can be charged under the
IPC.

AM-IX, Forensic Toxicology

Toxicologists are always looking for decoding the formula of the new compounds. Every poison is a
challenge and it is a task to understand the chemicals used.

 Poison/Toxic substance- Any substance which when administered in the living body through
any route through any route it can be via inhalation, ingestion, injection, or surface
absorption, can cause ill health or death by its action. Which might be due to its physical,
chemical or physiological properties. That particular substance is said to be a toxic substance
or a poison, or a poisonous substance. Toxicology is a combination of chemistry and
physiology that deals with drugs and other substances and it sees how it affects the living
organisms.

 Toxin- Poisonous substance that is not administered rather produced. It is produced during
the metabolism and growth of certain microorganisms. So, there are certain microorganism
which are present in any biological body and toxin is a poisonous substance which is
produced by the metabolism and growth of certain microorganisms present in any living
body.

 Dose makes the poison. This is the fundamental principle of a forensic toxicology that any
substance can act as a poison on a living body. Depending upon the dose in which the
substance has been administered. Baseline of toxicology.

 Toxicology- The study of the nature, effects and detection of poison, and the treatment of
poisoning.

 Clinical Toxicology- Human diseases caused or associated with abnormal use of certain
substances

 Forensic Toxicology- Investigation of a case, deals in the medico Legal aspect and any toxic
injury. the legal outcome of the toxicological investigation is, not the primary motive of
forensic toxicology that what is going to be the legal outcome of the toxicological
 investigation, but rather the technology and the technique for obtaining and interpreting the
results are his primary objective. investigation. They are known as forensic toxicologist.

Sources of Poison-

1. Domestic/household poison- Harpic, Disinfectants etc

2. Agricultural/Horticultural poison- Pesticides, acts as a poison, depends on the administration

of dose and the mode of administration

3. Industrial Poison- Products produced as the by products of the operations done in the
industries

4. Commercial Sources- Medication available in the shops, abuse of drugs, depending upon the
dosage.

5. Miscellaneous sources- Other elements that cannot be put in any above classifications.

Cases of poisoning can be broadly divided into 3 categories:

 Acute- Cause by an excessive single dose or several small doses. (sign and symptom of
poisoning can be seen)

 Chronic- The administration of smaller doses over a period of time.

 Fulminant- Produced by one single massive does where the death is instant and rapid. (no
preceding symptoms)

DOSE MAKES THE POISON, Concentration of the chemical administered in the body and the
threshold of the human body are certain things that are considered. Mode of administration shall be
considered.

Autopsy material that detects the presence of poison-

 Urine (rich sample, done on athletes)

 Blood (small amt of blood is enough)

 Hair Sample (substance abuse, not standardized since the hair type affects the presence)

 Oral Fluids

 Other Body Fluids

AM X, Techniques used for identification

If a scientific analysis helps in conclusion of getting the identified person out of the evidences, then
the ultimate person of forensic science is completed. Full conclusive evidence shall be available.

Techniques sed in forensic science

 1. Anthropometry -These techniques are no more in use since they are very prone to error and
are not very scientific in nature. This is the measurement of certain body part of the adult
body. Circumference of head, limbs, legs etc. Waist measurements not done since it varies
with time.
2. Portrait Parle- Extension of anthropometry, any scar mark, tattoo mark, Colour of the body,
colour of the hair, beard and the photographs.

These two techniques were challenged are they are not core scientific in nature and there was a
lot of scope of human error.

3. Dactylography- Study of finger prints. Pattern of fingerprints develop since an infant is not
even born. They remain constant throughout the life of the person. It exists even when the
person dies, the deeper skin layer also carries certain characteristics of the finger prints.
4. Bone- Certain bones such as the pelvis bone, cranium bone can be used to guess the age,
height, etc
5. Teeth- Denture can be studies to see the age of the person. DNA in some cases can also be
extracted
6. Blood- Body fluid can be used to identify a person and if he was present at the crime scene
and if the DNA can b extracted form these body fluids then the person can also be identified.
7. Hair- 2 DNA’s can be extracted such as the nucleus DNA and mitrocondal DNA from the shaft
portion of the hair stand, strong evidence for the identification of the person.
8. DNA test
9. Phycological tests- Polygraph test, Narco analysis test, Brain Mapping

AM XI, DNA

 DNA stands for deoxyribose nucleic acid. DNA are the building blocks and contain genetic
information, it is the case for the protein that our body produces. It determines the order of
amino acids which determine what kinds of proteins are made. DNA determines how much
amount of these proteins are required by the cells to ensure proper functioning of the body.

 DNA structure- Is as such that the entire information is curtailed in one cell from which the
DNA can be extracted. It is a twisted ladder also called as the double helix structure. There
are 4 nitrogenous bases known as ATGC. adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine
(T)

 Sugar phosphatase forms the bac of the ladder. Each base is also attached to a sugar
molecule and a phosphate molecule. Together, a base, sugar, and phosphate are called a
nucleotide. Nucleotides are arranged in two long strands that form a spiral called a double
helix. The structure of the double helix is somewhat like a ladder, with the base pairs
forming the ladder’s rungs and the sugar and phosphate molecules forming the vertical
sidepieces of the ladder.

 An important property of DNA is that it can replicate, or make copies of itself. Each strand of
DNA in the double helix can serve as a pattern for duplicating the sequence of bases. This is
critical when cells divide because each new cell needs to have an exact copy of the DNA
present in the old cell.
 DNA can be extracted from the nucleus. In the nucleus it is present in the chromosomes in
pairs. One is from the mother and one is from the father. There is a similar type of DNA
profile throughout the body. There are around 46 chromosomes, which mean 23 pairs.

 DNA is prone to contamination.

 Moisture degrades the DNA.

 There are two types of DNA which can be extracted from the DNA called the NDNA (Nucleus
DNA) and MTDNA. (mitochondrial DNA), only matched with the maternal side of the person.