Chumoukedima, Nagaland, January 23 (HBTV): A frustrated Association of Kohima Municipal Wards Council has demanded that the Chief Minister of Nagaland acknowledge the urgency of building up the state’s forensic capabilities.
A copy of a letter addressed to the Chief Minister, received here on Friday, January 23, questioned the government on “how many robbers, rapists, murderers, and repeat offenders” would escape detection or conviction due to compromised evidence and delayed forensic response.
As prime examples of the government’s neglect of this crucial capability, the association referred to the September 24, 2025, death of a police constable from a gunshot injury at approximately 6:23 AM, noting that forensic investigators arrived only late in the afternoon.
Likewise, the October 25, 2025, murder of a young woman at Old Ministers’ Hill was cited. The incident was reported to the police as early as 7:00 am, but forensic personnel had to be mobilized from Dimapur and reached the crime scene only after 2:00 pm. In both cases, families and the public were subjected to uncertainty and trauma because Kohima lacks any functional forensic units, the association said.
Further, the association noted the much-publicized inauguration of a so-called upgraded forensic science laboratory in Dimapur in September 2018. Despite this and repeated claims of creating nine scientific posts, not a single regular scientific officer or assistant has been recruited, the association stated.
Nearly eight years later, the laboratory survives on deputed personnel, it said. The association also noted that core forensic divisions are crippled or non-functional, while costly equipment lies idle and unusable for want of qualified operators. This situation persists despite the availability of qualified Naga forensic professionals, ranging from diploma holders to PhD scholars, the association stated.
The association has called upon the Chief Minister to personally intervene and order time-bound measures, including the immediate full operationalization of the forensic science laboratory in Dimapur, the establishment of a functional laboratory in Kohima, and the institutionalization of district-level forensic response.