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Download PDF In a breakthrough move to keep up with innovative forensics to solve crimes and ensure justice, the government is updating several age-old laws so that biometric and electronic evidences are admissible in a court of law.
Currently, the courts in the country are not bound by the law to accept biometric and electronic records as evidences.
As part of the landmark initiative, a nine-member committee headed by Saiful Alam, the deputy inspector general (DIG) of Criminal Investigation Department (CID), formulated a draft law titled Evidence (amendment) Ordinance 2007 that would replace or amend relevant sections of the Evidence Act of 1872.
Furthermore, the same committee also formulated an entirely new law titled Identification of Convicted, Suspected, Arrested and Crime Scene Related Persons Ordinance, 2007 that would replace the Identification of Prisoners and Accused Persons Act of 1920.
Once these new amendments and the new ordinance are put into effect, crime investigators and law enforcers will be able to legally collect physiological evidences including DNA samples and other biometric data from suspects, offenders, arrestees, victims or any other person whose identification might be crucial to solve a crime.
Under the Evidence (amendment) Ordinance 2007, software and audio-video footages stored on DVD, hardware or other data storage devices with the help of electronic devices such as CCTV and cell phones can be admissible in the courts as evidence.
DIG Saiful Alam of CID told The Daily Star, “We completed the draft [Evidence (Amendment) Ordinance, 2007] after six months of hard work and we submitted it to the police headquarters. It was first sent to home ministry and now it is at the law ministry for necessary correction and approval.”
The draft of Identification of Convicted, Suspected, Arrested and Crime Scene Related Persons Ordinance, 2007 has been written in Bangla, he added.
The draft ordinance was sent to the cabinet for approval, but the cabinet sent it back to the law ministry, asking it shorten its title, said sources.
According to sources, the draft of the amended law defines “electronic records” as any electronic document or information generated, sent, received, or stored in magnetic, optical, computer memory, microfilm, computer generated micro fiche, etc.
The draft law defines “physical evidence” as any material or object that may establish that an offence has been committed or may establish a link or relation between an offence and its victim or an offence and its offender.
Samples of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), blood, semen, vaginal swab, hair, body fluids, organs, body parts, finger impressions, palm impressions, iris impressions, footprints, latent prints, photographs, traced prints, voice recordings, handwriting, reports originated from all automated identification systems, etc. would also be considered as physical evidence.
Hubert Staberhofer, Programme Manager of the government’s Police Reforms Programme (PRP), said it would be a major breakthrough in the field of crime investigation as the new law and the amendments will cause a major shift from the testimony-based trial system to a technology-based one.
Controversy on the dependency on confessional statements can also be eliminated as the DNA test results can help identify rapists and sex offenders with 99 percent accuracy, he added.
Under the PRP project, crime scene investigators, judges and prosecutors will be trained to make the best use of the new laws, said Hubert.
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