PU’s Institute of Forensic Science and Criminology conducted National webinar on FORENSIC TOXICOLOGY
Chandigarh March 26, 2022
The Institute of Forensic Science and Criminology, Panjab University, Chandigarh organized a special lecture in the ongoing National webinar lecture series 2021-22 on ‘‘Forensic Toxicology’’. The webinar was hosted by Dr. Vishal Sharma, Chairperson at the Institute of Forensic Science and Criminology. He said that the rate of occurrence of crimes has increased drastically over the years and introduction of new strategies along with advanced technologies are required increase the conviction rate. To this he said, that full potential of forensics should be utilized which will successfully meet the current need in criminal justice system.
The Keynote speaker of the webinar, Prof. R.K. Sarin, professor at NFSU Campus at Goa and former- Director, APFSL, Mangalagiri & CFSL Hyderabad & FSL Govt. of NCT of Delhi. Prof. Sarin started his presentation by giving a brief overview of toxicology with reference to its history and definition followed by explaining its various branches. He even discussed about the classification of poisons in forensic science on the basis of characteristics they acquire. He said that the a forensic toxicologist is of particular importance in the court of law; their expert knowledge and years of experience in the field enables them to present the information to a courtroom in a manner that is easily understood. A detailed discussion of the cases involving toxicological analysis was done including the famous Prathyusha case, Cyanide poisoning case, Hand Sanitizer consumption case and Styrene gas leakage case. In each case the toxicological aspect involving the use of protocols and instrumentation techniques were discussed in detail. The entire webinar was very informative and it ended with a query session raised by the students.
More than 90 delegates participated in the webinar including Scientist from forensic labs, faculty and students, research scholars from various Universities. Dr. Vishal Sharma, concluded the webinar by giving a vote of thanks to the speaker as well as to the audience and said that the web lecture was planned to make the students as well as the general public aware of the role of forensic toxicologist in solving cases prevailing in the country due to poisoning.
