KIIT Law School (KLS) organized a webinar on ‘Procedure and Technicalities of Investigation of Criminal Cases’ with Mr. R. K. Vij, IPS (Retd.), Fmr. Special Director General of Police, Chhattisgarh as the Guest Speaker. The webinar aimed to sensitize the students of law on investigation as an appendage of criminal trials.
Mr. Vij, who has an exemplary career as an investigating officer, hooked the audience of Criminal Law enthusiasts with his extremely detailed presentation on the topic. Starting with the concept of investigation, he proceeded to explain the various steps involved in the process of investigation, including filing a First Information Report (FIR), if the offense is a cognizable one, with the police. He detailed the contents of an FIR and its importance in the investigation. The alternative to an FIR is a complaint before the Magistrate, in both cognizable and non-cognizable cases, which has a different discourse of dealing.
Filing of an FIR/Complaint is briefly followed by the investigation process which has a multiplicity of steps and methods in it. A part of investigation includes: Preserving the scene of crime, Collection of evidences, Recording the statement of witnesses, Medical examination of victim and accused (S. 53, 53A and 54, CrPC); which includes taking samples of DNA, searching marks of resistances/torture, etc.
Mr. Vij also stressed on some cases and case studies that landmark the concept of investigation in CrPC. Some of them were: Lalita Kumari v. Govt. of UP (AIR 2012 SC 1515), and a case study of a Kerala nun who was raped for two long years and couldn’t gather courage to file an FIR, that stressed upon the time limit of filing of cases. The webinar discussion was followed by the Q&A session. The event was hosted by Ms. Srejeta Datta and the vote of thanks was proposed by Mr. Shashank Nande, Assistant Professor, KLS.