The new criminal laws (BNS, BNSS, BSA) mandate forensic investigation for serious offences, yet India's forensic infrastructure remains inadequate. Critically evaluate the challenges and measures needed to bridge this gap.

Section 176(3) of the BNSS makes a forensic expert's visit to the crime scene compulsory for offences punishable with seven years or more, shifting Indian policing from confession-led to evidence-led investigation [1]. The legal mandate, however, has outpaced institutional capacity.

Progress already made

• The National Forensic Infrastructure Enhancement Scheme (2024), with an outlay of ₹2,254.43 crore (2024-25 to 2028-29), funds nine NFSU off-campuses and new CFSLs, explicitly citing the seven-year forensic mandate [1].
• NFSU, an Institution of National Importance under the NFSU Act, 2020 [2], is expanding through 14 additional campuses beyond Gandhinagar and Delhi, and eight new CFSLs over the existing seven [3].
• Co-location of NFSU campuses with CFSLs in six states — Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh — builds an education-to-practice pipeline [3]; the Raipur campus is already underway [4].

Persisting challenges

• Thin network: only seven CFSLs are operational [3], leaving most cases with unevenly resourced State laboratories and mounting pendency of samples.
• Manpower deficit: the government itself flags a shortage of trained forensic personnel against a sharply rising caseload [1].
• Fiscal federalism: police is a State subject (Entry 2, List II) — Central funding must be matched by State recruitment and equipment.
• Quality and admissibility: chain of custody, videography and digital/cyber-forensics need uniform standards to survive scrutiny under the BSA.
• Lag: laboratories take years to commission, while the statutory obligation is already in force.

Way forward

• Deploy mobile forensic vans and regional satellite units as an interim bridge.
• Fast-track recruitment, expand NFSU training academies such as those at Imphal and Pune [5], and train investigating officers.
• Mandate NABL accreditation, turnaround-time norms and digital evidence management systems.
• Prioritise border and island Union Territories with weak forensic access.

Forensic capacity is the hinge on which the new criminal codes will succeed or fail. A cooperative-federal push — Central funding, State execution and time-bound accreditation — can convert a statutory promise into swift, science-backed justice, advancing the constitutional guarantee of a fair trial under Article 21 and SDG 16 on access to justice.