Hyderabad encounter: Reconstructing a crime scene and its importance in criminal jurisprudence

Hyderabad, Dec 06: The four accused in the gruesome Hyderabad gang-rape and murder case were shot dead in an early morning encounter today. All the four were taken to the spot of the incident to reconstruct the crime scene.

The reconstruction of a crime scene is a process that involves eliminating or determining the events that took place at the crime scene by way of an analysis of physical evidence. This process is a forensic technique that involves a scientific analysis of the crime scene.

It is done on the basis of physical evidence, the location, pattern, interrelationship and laboratory examination.

The idea is to arrive at a conclusion about a crime and understand what exactly happened at the crime scene. Crime scene reconstruction has been described as putting together a jigsaw puzzle. The idea is to assemble the pieces in the correct order.

Forensic science deals with three area-specific incident reconstruction, event reconstruction and physical evidence reconstruction. These are carried out in cases relating to accidents, murders and bombings. The investigators through this process look at the sequence of events, evidence and also the identity of those involved in the crime.

Some of the key components that are looked not are firearms, glass fragments, blood traces, which in turn are used for forensic analysis.

Forensic experts that OneIndia spoke with say that during the process the most useful form of physical evidence is the bloodstains. Bloodstains are present in all cases that involve violence and it is an important component for forensic analysis.

Any criminal investigation would typically involve seven steps. They are securing the scene, separating the witness, scanning the crime scene, taking photographs, preparing a sketch of the crime scene, finding evidence and also securing the evidence that has been collected.