Historical Development of Forensic Science in India and World
Introduction:
Crime in some form or the other has existed since the beginning of human race. With the advancement in science and technology the concept of crime as well as the methods adopted by criminals in its commission have undergone a phenomenal change. On one hand the intelligent criminal has been quick to exploit science for his criminal acts, on the other hand the investigator is no longer able to rely on age old art of interrogation and methods to detect crime. In this context forensic science has found its existence. The application of science and technology to the detection and investigation of crime and administration of justice is not new to India. Although our ancestors did not know forensic science in its present form, scientific methods in one way or the other seem to have been followed in the investigation of crime. Its detailed reference is found in Kautilya's `Arthashastra,' which was written about 2300 years ago. Indians studied various patterns of the papillary lines, thousands of years ago. It is presumed that they knew about the persistency and individuality of fingerprints, which they used as signatures. The Indians knew for long that the handprints, known as the ‘Tarija', were inimitable.
The use of fingerprints as signatures by illiterate people in India, introduced centuries ago, was considered by some people as ceremonial only, till it was scientifically proved that identification from fingerprints was accurate. Meaning Forensic science is the scientific method of gathering and examining information about the past. This is especially important in law enforcement where forensics is done in relation to criminal or civil law, but forensics are also carried out in other fields, such as astronomy, archaeology, biology and geology to investigate ancient times.
According to Hall Dillon, “The word “forensic” means “pertaining to the law”; forensic science resolves legal issues by applying scientific principles to them.”
California Criminalistics Institute defines Forensic Science and Forensic Scientists as, “Forensic Science is the application of the methods and techniques of the basic sciences to legal issues. As you can imagine Forensic Science is a very broad field of study. Crime Laboratory Scientists, sometimes called Forensic Scientists or, more properly, Criminalists, work with physical evidence collected at scenes of crimes.” Ancient History History considers Archimedes as the father of forensic science. He had found out that a crown was not made of gold, (as it was falsely claimed) by its density and buoyancy. After Archimedes, another early forensic science application was done by Soleiman, an Arabic merchant of the 7th century. He used fingerprints as a proof of validity between debtors and lenders. In seventh century BC, an Indian Medicine Treatise, Agnivesa Charaka Samhita was composed that laid down the duties and privileges of a physician. It also gave a detailed description of various poisons, symptoms, signs and treatment of poisoning. Shushruta Samhita was composed between 200 and 300 AD and its chapters concerning forensic medicine were so carefully written that they are in no way inferior to modern knowledge on the subject.
In the 700s, the Chinese also used the fingerprint concept. In the 1000s, Quintilian, a prosecutor in the Roman courts, used a similar method to solve murders. The first document that mentions the use of Forensics in legal matters is the book Xi Yuan Ji Lu (translated as “Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified”) written in 1248 by Chinese author Song Ci.
Historical development
∙ 1540s- Pathology: In the 1540’s the French doctor Ambroise Pare laid the foundations for modern forensic pathology through his study of trauma on human organs after he systematically studied the effects of violent death on internal organs. Also, two Italian surgeons, Fortunato Fidelis and Paolo Zacchia, studied the changes that occurred in the structure of the body as the result of disease. In the late 18th century, writings on these topics began to appear. These included, ‘A Treatise on Forensic Medicine and Public Health, by the French physician Francois Immanuele Fodere and ‘The Complete System of Police Medicine’ by the German medical expert Johann Peter Frank.
∙ 1800s- Toxicology: Matheiu Orfila is known as the father of modern toxicology. In the early part of the 19th century he established in Paris methods of scientific chemical analysis of poison, which are in use even today. In India, during the nineteenth century, when the cases of death due to poisoning posed a problem to the law enforcement agencies, a need was felt for isolating, detecting and estimating various poisons absorbed in the human system. The first Chemical Examiner's Laboratory was, therefore, set up for this purpose at the then Madras Presidency, under the Department of Health, during 1849. Later, similar laboratories were set up at Calcutta (1853), followed by one each at Agra (1864) and Bombay (1870). These laboratories were equipped to handle toxicological analysis of viscera, biological analysis of stains of blood, semen, etc. and chemical analysis of food, drugs, and various excisable materials to provide scientific support to the criminal justice delivery system within their limited means.
∙ 1820s- Ballistics:
Eugene Francois Vidocq pioneered the first use of ballistics and began taking plaster casts of shoe imprints. Henry Goddard at Scotland Yard perfected the science of ballistics and pioneered the use of bullet comparison in 1835. He developed a comparison microscope for comparison of crime and test fired bullets to determine whether or not a particular weapon was used in the offence. In India in 1930, an Arms Expert was appointed and a small ballistic laboratory was set up under the Calcutta Police to deal with the examination of firearms. As the menace of firearms grew, other State CIDs also established small ballistics laboratories to help them in the criminal investigation.
∙ 1879- Anthropometry: Alphonse Bertillon of France was first to evolve a scientific system of personal identification. In 1879, he developed the science of Anthropometry, a systemic procedure of taking a series of body measurements to facilitate distinguishing one individual from another. With the invention of photography, he was the first to use it in criminal investigation. In 1881, he began to take standard pictures of all French criminals and file them in the Bureau of Identification, then in Paris. His efforts have earned him the distinction of being known as the Father of Criminal Investigation. In India, while some progress was made in the identification of poisons, the identification of people, specifically criminals, was still being done in a rather haphazard manner. Policemen would try to memorize convict's face so that they could recognize him if he got involved in another crime later. With the introduction of photography, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) maintained records of every known criminal including a detailed description of his appearance. With the invention of Bertillon's anthropometric system in 1879, India, along with the other countries of the world, adapted Bertillon's system of personnel identification and thus an Anthropometric Bureau, for maintaining anthropometric records of criminals, was established in 1892 at Calcutta.
∙ 1892- Fingerprints: Sir William Herschel was one of the first to advocate the use of fingerprinting in the identification of criminal suspects. While working for the Indian Civil Services, he began to use thumbprints on documents as a security measure to prevent the then-rampant repudiation of signatures in 1858. Francis Galton undertook the first systematic study of the fingerprints. He developed a methodology of classifying the fingerprints for filing purposes. In 1892, he published a book on fingerprints giving a sound statistical proof of uniqueness of individualization through fingerprints. He had calculated that the chance of a "false positive" (two different individuals having the same fingerprints) was about 1 in 64 billion. Juan Vucetich, an Argentine chief police officer, created the first method of recording the fingerprints of individuals on file. In 1892, after studying Galton's pattern types, Vucetich set up the world's first fingerprint bureau. In India, Henry approached the Government to seek approval for replacing the anthropometric data by fingerprints for the identification of habitual criminals. Government readily agreed, and the first fingerprint bureau in the world was officially declared open at Calcutta in July 1897, although the collection of record slips had started a few years earlier. Thus, the personnel identification solely on the basis of fingerprints commenced in India.
∙ 1901- Serology: Karl Landsteiner in 1901 discovered that blood could be grouped into different categories. Following this, in 1910, Dr. Leone Lattes of Italy devised a relatively simple procedure for determining the blood group of dried bloodstains and immediately adopted this technique for criminal investigation.
In India, when the science of examining human blood developed, it became possible to examine blood and seminal stains in criminal investigations. Realising the importance of Forensic Serology, an institute named as ‘Serology Department’ was established in Calcutta in 1910. Though the scientific techniques for serological examination were at the infancy stage, this institute provided valuable scientific support by analyzing biological materials for crime investigations. After independence, the department was renamed as ‘Office of the Serologist and Chemical Examiner to the Government of India’.
∙ 1910- Principle of Exchange: Edmund Locard is responsible for the famous ‘Principle of Exchange’, which forms the basis of forensic examination of physical evidence. Its states that “every contact leaves a trace”.This is also known as the Locard Exchange Principle and has formed the foundation of trace evidence collection and analysis for over a century and still plays a central role in 21st century forensic science.
∙ 1984- DNA profiling: In 1984, Sir Alec Jeffery developed a science of DNA profiling and found that every human being has a unique DNA structure. He realized the scope of DNA fingerprinting, which uses variations in the genetic code to identify individuals. The method has since become important in forensic science to assist police detective work, and it has also proved useful in resolving paternity and immigration disputes. In India, in response to the rising demands of providing high technology to the crime investigation process, the first Forensic DNA Typing facility was established at CFSL, Calcutta, during 1998. The implementation of this state of the art technique represents significant advancements in the forensic biology in the country. The DNA Typing Unit at CFSL, Calcutta is equipped with the most contemporary techniques of DNA typing, namely, Polymerize Chain Reaction (PCR) based method, Locus Specific Restricted Fragment Length Polymorphism technique, etc. This laboratory, after being functional, has been referred many crime cases pertaining to murder, rape, rape and murder, paternity disputes, organ transplant, exchange of babies in hospitals etc.
Historical Development of Forensic Science in India and World
Introduction:
Crime in some form or the other has existed since the beginning of human race. With the advancement in science and technology the concept of crime as well as the methods adopted by criminals in its commission have undergone a phenomenal change. On one hand the intelligent criminal has been quick to exploit science for his criminal acts, on the other hand the investigator is no longer able to rely on age old art of interrogation and methods to detect crime. In this context forensic science has found its existence. The application of science and technology to the detection and investigation of crime and administration of justice is not new to India. Although our ancestors did not know forensic science in its present form, scientific methods in one way or the other seem to have been followed in the investigation of crime. Its detailed reference is found in Kautilya's `Arthashastra,' which was written about 2300 years ago. Indians studied various patterns of the papillary lines, thousands of years ago. It is presumed that they knew about the persistency and individuality of fingerprints, which they used as signatures. The Indians knew for long that the handprints, known as the ‘Tarija', were inimitable.
The use of fingerprints as signatures by illiterate people in India, introduced centuries ago, was considered by some people as ceremonial only, till it was scientifically proved that identification from fingerprints was accurate. Meaning Forensic science is the scientific method of gathering and examining information about the past. This is especially important in law enforcement where forensics is done in relation to criminal or civil law, but forensics are also carried out in other fields, such as astronomy, archaeology, biology and geology to investigate ancient times.
According to Hall Dillon, “The word “forensic” means “pertaining to the law”; forensic science resolves legal issues by applying scientific principles to them.”
California Criminalistics Institute defines Forensic Science and Forensic Scientists as, “Forensic Science is the application of the methods and techniques of the basic sciences to legal issues. As you can imagine Forensic Science is a very broad field of study. Crime Laboratory Scientists, sometimes called Forensic Scientists or, more properly, Criminalists, work with physical evidence collected at scenes of crimes.” Ancient History History considers Archimedes as the father of forensic science. He had found out that a crown was not made of gold, (as it was falsely claimed) by its density and buoyancy. After Archimedes, another early forensic science application was done by Soleiman, an Arabic merchant of the 7th century. He used fingerprints as a proof of validity between debtors and lenders. In seventh century BC, an Indian Medicine Treatise, Agnivesa Charaka Samhita was composed that laid down the duties and privileges of a physician. It also gave a detailed description of various poisons, symptoms, signs and treatment of poisoning. Shushruta Samhita was composed between 200 and 300 AD and its chapters concerning forensic medicine were so carefully written that they are in no way inferior to modern knowledge on the subject.
In the 700s, the Chinese also used the fingerprint concept. In the 1000s, Quintilian, a prosecutor in the Roman courts, used a similar method to solve murders. The first document that mentions the use of Forensics in legal matters is the book Xi Yuan Ji Lu (translated as “Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified”) written in 1248 by Chinese author Song Ci.
Historical development
∙ 1540s- Pathology: In the 1540’s the French doctor Ambroise Pare laid the foundations for modern forensic pathology through his study of trauma on human organs after he systematically studied the effects of violent death on internal organs. Also, two Italian surgeons, Fortunato Fidelis and Paolo Zacchia, studied the changes that occurred in the structure of the body as the result of disease. In the late 18th century, writings on these topics began to appear. These included, ‘A Treatise on Forensic Medicine and Public Health, by the French physician Francois Immanuele Fodere and ‘The Complete System of Police Medicine’ by the German medical expert Johann Peter Frank.
∙ 1800s- Toxicology: Matheiu Orfila is known as the father of modern toxicology. In the early part of the 19th century he established in Paris methods of scientific chemical analysis of poison, which are in use even today. In India, during the nineteenth century, when the cases of death due to poisoning posed a problem to the law enforcement agencies, a need was felt for isolating, detecting and estimating various poisons absorbed in the human system. The first Chemical Examiner's Laboratory was, therefore, set up for this purpose at the then Madras Presidency, under the Department of Health, during 1849. Later, similar laboratories were set up at Calcutta (1853), followed by one each at Agra (1864) and Bombay (1870). These laboratories were equipped to handle toxicological analysis of viscera, biological analysis of stains of blood, semen, etc. and chemical analysis of food, drugs, and various excisable materials to provide scientific support to the criminal justice delivery system within their limited means.
∙ 1820s- Ballistics:
Eugene Francois Vidocq pioneered the first use of ballistics and began taking plaster casts of shoe imprints. Henry Goddard at Scotland Yard perfected the science of ballistics and pioneered the use of bullet comparison in 1835. He developed a comparison microscope for comparison of crime and test fired bullets to determine whether or not a particular weapon was used in the offence. In India in 1930, an Arms Expert was appointed and a small ballistic laboratory was set up under the Calcutta Police to deal with the examination of firearms. As the menace of firearms grew, other State CIDs also established small ballistics laboratories to help them in the criminal investigation.
∙ 1879- Anthropometry: Alphonse Bertillon of France was first to evolve a scientific system of personal identification. In 1879, he developed the science of Anthropometry, a systemic procedure of taking a series of body measurements to facilitate distinguishing one individual from another. With the invention of photography, he was the first to use it in criminal investigation. In 1881, he began to take standard pictures of all French criminals and file them in the Bureau of Identification, then in Paris. His efforts have earned him the distinction of being known as the Father of Criminal Investigation. In India, while some progress was made in the identification of poisons, the identification of people, specifically criminals, was still being done in a rather haphazard manner. Policemen would try to memorize convict's face so that they could recognize him if he got involved in another crime later. With the introduction of photography, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) maintained records of every known criminal including a detailed description of his appearance. With the invention of Bertillon's anthropometric system in 1879, India, along with the other countries of the world, adapted Bertillon's system of personnel identification and thus an Anthropometric Bureau, for maintaining anthropometric records of criminals, was established in 1892 at Calcutta.
∙ 1892- Fingerprints: Sir William Herschel was one of the first to advocate the use of fingerprinting in the identification of criminal suspects. While working for the Indian Civil Services, he began to use thumbprints on documents as a security measure to prevent the then-rampant repudiation of signatures in 1858. Francis Galton undertook the first systematic study of the fingerprints. He developed a methodology of classifying the fingerprints for filing purposes. In 1892, he published a book on fingerprints giving a sound statistical proof of uniqueness of individualization through fingerprints. He had calculated that the chance of a "false positive" (two different individuals having the same fingerprints) was about 1 in 64 billion. Juan Vucetich, an Argentine chief police officer, created the first method of recording the fingerprints of individuals on file. In 1892, after studying Galton's pattern types, Vucetich set up the world's first fingerprint bureau. In India, Henry approached the Government to seek approval for replacing the anthropometric data by fingerprints for the identification of habitual criminals. Government readily agreed, and the first fingerprint bureau in the world was officially declared open at Calcutta in July 1897, although the collection of record slips had started a few years earlier. Thus, the personnel identification solely on the basis of fingerprints commenced in India.
∙ 1901- Serology: Karl Landsteiner in 1901 discovered that blood could be grouped into different categories. Following this, in 1910, Dr. Leone Lattes of Italy devised a relatively simple procedure for determining the blood group of dried bloodstains and immediately adopted this technique for criminal investigation.
In India, when the science of examining human blood developed, it became possible to examine blood and seminal stains in criminal investigations. Realising the importance of Forensic Serology, an institute named as ‘Serology Department’ was established in Calcutta in 1910. Though the scientific techniques for serological examination were at the infancy stage, this institute provided valuable scientific support by analyzing biological materials for crime investigations. After independence, the department was renamed as ‘Office of the Serologist and Chemical Examiner to the Government of India’.
∙ 1910- Principle of Exchange: Edmund Locard is responsible for the famous ‘Principle of Exchange’, which forms the basis of forensic examination of physical evidence. Its states that “every contact leaves a trace”.This is also known as the Locard Exchange Principle and has formed the foundation of trace evidence collection and analysis for over a century and still plays a central role in 21st century forensic science.
∙ 1984- DNA profiling: In 1984, Sir Alec Jeffery developed a science of DNA profiling and found that every human being has a unique DNA structure. He realized the scope of DNA fingerprinting, which uses variations in the genetic code to identify individuals. The method has since become important in forensic science to assist police detective work, and it has also proved useful in resolving paternity and immigration disputes. In India, in response to the rising demands of providing high technology to the crime investigation process, the first Forensic DNA Typing facility was established at CFSL, Calcutta, during 1998. The implementation of this state of the art technique represents significant advancements in the forensic biology in the country. The DNA Typing Unit at CFSL, Calcutta is equipped with the most contemporary techniques of DNA typing, namely, Polymerize Chain Reaction (PCR) based method, Locus Specific Restricted Fragment Length Polymorphism technique, etc. This laboratory, after being functional, has been referred many crime cases pertaining to murder, rape, rape and murder, paternity disputes, organ transplant, exchange of babies in hospitals etc.
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