The Association of Kohima Municipal Wards Council (AKMWC), representing Kohima’s 19 wards and 44 colonies, has sought the immediate intervention of the Chief Minister of Nagaland to set up and operationalise forensic science capacity in Nagaland.
In an appeal issued on January 23, the Council criticised the “continued and indefensible inadequacy” of forensic science capabilities in the State, despite repeated representations, public appeals, and documented availability of infrastructure.
Drawing attention on the recent cases of murder where the lack of forensic capacities delayed the investigation process, the Council cited the dead of a police constable on 24 September 2025 and the brutal murder of a woman on 25 October 2025 in Kohima.
“In both cases, families and the public were subjected to prolonged uncertainty and trauma solely because Kohima lacks any functional forensic unit and the Forensic Science Laboratory at Dimapur remains crippled by chronic staffing failures. Such delays in forensic response in two grave deaths directly undermined the integrity of the investigation, violated basic principles of criminal justice, and amounted to a serious human rights violation of the victims and their families, exposing a systemic collapse in the State’s forensic and investigative infrastructure,” stated the Council.
Despite the much-publicised inauguration of an “upgraded” Forensic Science Laboratory in Dimapur in September 2018 and repeated claims of creating nine scientific posts, the Council claimed that not a single regular Scientific Officer or Scientific Assistant has been recruited to this day.
“Nearly eight years later, the laboratory survives on deputed personnel, with core forensic divisions crippled or non-functional, and costly equipment lying idle, unusable for want of qualified operators. This paralysis exists despite the availability of qualified Naga forensic professionals-from diploma holders to PhDs, many forced to work outside the state or pushed into overage while public-funded equipment gathers dust and becomes obsolete. This is a textbook case of administrative apathy and institutional failure, resulting in delayed investigations, denial of forensic support to the justice system, denial of much needed employment opportunity to our youth, and a continuing hemorrhage of public money, an embarrassment repeatedly documented by the Naga Forensic Science Association and exposed in the local press,” expressed the Council.
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With the enforcement of the BNSS, which mandates forensic involvement at crime scenes in serious offences, the situation has acquired statutory urgency.
The Council further raised concern on the absence of any functional forensic facility in Kohima, where serious crimes in the State capital itself await forensic response from Dimapur hours later.
“How many crime scenes have been compromised, evidence lost, and offenders benefited. Mobile forensic vans, while useful, are not a substitute for a properly staffed laboratory supported by trained scientific personnel. Without on-site forensic capacity, investigations begin handicapped, are overburdened, and public confidence in the justice system steadily erodes,” added the Council.
It also highlighted the KMC heist in June 2025 which unravelled into a chain of serial thefts only after custodial confession. “None were proactively linked despite reported availability of CCTV footage and transactional data. How many such thefts were never connected or detected at all. How many offenders walked free simply because no forensic capacity existed to connect the dots in time?” question the Council.
The AKMWC has therefore called upon the Chief Minister to personally intervene and direct time-bound measures: immediate full operationalisation of the Forensic Science Laboratory at Dimapur through expedited recruitment against sanctioned posts; establishment or revival of a functional Forensic Science Laboratory at Kohima with dedicated scientific staff; institutionalisation of district-level forensic response; and fixed accountability timelines for the Home Department to ensure compliance with statutory forensic requirements.
