Sylhet Bureau :
Criminal investigations in Sylhet have been hampered currently as investigators are forced to send samples to Dhaka, Chattogram or Rajshahi for testing.
Sources close to the Criminal Investigation Department of police told journalists the entire process of collecting and sending samples to other cities and then receiving the report eats out vital time during the investigation of criminal cases. As a result, there is an urgent need to set up a lab in Sylhet.
Experts said that such delays in testing samples on many occasions caused damage to key evidence. Investigators in Sylhet have to rely on the Chittagong forensic lab for viscera reports and on the Dhaka lab for DNA testing.
In 2021, a total 798 postmortems were conducted in Sylhet Osmani Medical College Hospital, from which 500 viscera samples were sent to Chittagong and close to 200 DNA samples were sent to Dhaka. These tests on many occasions took up to six months.
Sylhet Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal Special Public Prosecutor Advocate Rashida Sayeeda Khanam told that case proceedings would gain pace if a forensic lab was set up in Sylhet.
Advocate Nizam Uddin, another public prosecutor, said a letter has been sent to authorities asking to set up a lab in Sylhet division.
Sylhet Superintendent of Police (CID) Sugyan Chakma said that an initiative has been taken to set up a forensic lab in Sylhet. A proposal in this regard has also been approved by the Home Ministry.
The lab will be able to test samples coming from four adjacent districts. Samples from Brahmanbaria and Kishorganj will also be tested at the lab.
