There should be no suspicion about the reliability of an expert’s opinion given during judicial proceedings, according to Justice P.N. Prakash, Judge, Madras High Court.
He was addressing the 11th annual conference of the South India Medico-legal Association being organised at PSG Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (IMSR) here on Saturday.
Delivering a lecture on ‘lacunae in medical evidences and how to avoid them,’ he said the law courts played an important role in this regard by accepting expert evidence and encouraging the scientist by according judicial recognition to his/her methods. Section 45 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, permitted courts to accept evidence from experts.
Delivering a lecture on ‘challenges faced by the police in investigating medico-legal cases,’ M. Sudhakar, Superintendent of Police, Coimbatore district, said that establishing the chain of events with clarity was an uphill task.
A panel discussion was also held with Mr. Justice Prakash, Mr. Sudhakar, N. Seshasayee, Principal District Sessions Judge, B. Santhakumar, Dean of Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH), Madurai and Edwin Joe, Dean of Tuticorin Government Medical College Hospital, taking part.
Speaking earlier in the day, S. Davidson Devasirvatham, Inspector-General of Police (IGP), West Zone, said that forensic medicine experts had contributed significantly in solving medico-legal cases.
“Speed and quality are the essence of good investigative procedures to ensure victims do not suffer and criminals do not escape,” he added. The IGP also spoke about cases in which forensic examination provided the clinching evidence.
S.N. Seshasai, Commissioner of Tirupur, said that experts must train police personnel in collection of forensic evidence.
L. Gopalakrishnan, managing trustee, PSG Institutions, and S. Ramalingam, principal, PSG IMSR, also spoke.
