Agartala, June 1 (TIWN): With rising number of rapes and other incidents of crime of women in Tripura, a large number of cases are now pending in the biology and serology division of the Tripura Forensic Laboratory.

The state forensic laboratory is reeling under acute shortage of trained manpower. Out of thirty-three sanctioned posts of scientists in the facility, barely eighteen are currently working in the forensic lab, a highly placed source in the Home Department said here today.

The source said that steps are being taken to upgrade the forensic laboratory. Advertisements inviting applications for recruiting new scientific officers were issued several times but none appeared.

The forensic laboratory operates five divisions – DNA testing division, ballistics/physics division, chemistry division, toxicology division and the document division. The facility is expecting a full-fledged computer forensic division and a lie detector unit to come up shortly.

Asked about major effects of the dearth of expert workforce, the source today said that the state has had a sizeable rise in the number of incidents of crime against women including rape. “We are just not able to test the samples in rape cases due to dearth of expert manpower”, he said. The source further stated that possibilities of under-qualified workforce employed in the forensic lab can’t be totally ruled out.

The state government started its own forensic laboratory from January 31, 2003. It recently started three mobile units to collect samples from the site of crime. Two of them are operating in Udaipur sub-division of Gomati district and Kailashahar in North Tripura district. The third is stationed at Agartala.

The state has set up the first cyber forensic laboratory in August, 2013. The laboratory, established in the Tripura High Court, would provide information related to court cases.