Journal of Clinical Forensic Sciences

In recent years, the biometric attendance system has been introduced through executive orders across various sectors, including both governmental and nongovernmental organizations, such as medical colleges and hospitals throughout India. This initiative is designed to enhance administrative efficiency, promote punctuality, and track employee productivity. Nevertheless, there are growing worries regarding the dangers of privacy violations, data leaks, and unwarranted monitoring, even with the implementation of a new data protection regime. While the judiciary has not issued a blanket ruling against the mandatory implementation of biometric attendance, it is currently examining petitions and providing insights to encourage the executive branch to refine its execution. Acting as both an employer and a guardian of rights, the judiciary has voiced its concerns and reservations regarding the privacy ramifications and the proportionality of enforcing this system under the current legislative framework.

Custodial death is among the most serious violations of human rights and constitutional protections in a democratic society. Deaths occurring in police lockups, judicial custody, prisons, detention centres, mental health institutions, juvenile homes, or during police encounters raise grave medico-legal, ethical, forensic, and legal concerns. In India, custodial deaths continue to attract national and international scrutiny because of recurring allegations of torture, excessive use of force, medical negligence, delayed treatment, suppression of evidence, and failure of institutional accountability. The forensic investigation of custodial deaths plays a central role in determining the cause, manner, and circumstances of death. Scientific examination by forensic experts helps distinguish between natural deaths, suicides, accidental deaths, and deaths due to torture or homicidal violence. Proper autopsy procedures, videography, injury documentation, toxicological analysis, histopathology, radiological imaging, and preservation of biological evidence are indispensable components of custodial death investigation. The legal framework governing custodial deaths in India includes constitutional safeguards under Articles 20, 21, and 22 of the Constitution of India; statutory provisions under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS); National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) guidelines; prison laws; police regulations; and landmark judicial pronouncements such as D.K. Basu vs State of West Bengal and Nilabati Behera vs State of Orissa.1-6 Mandatory magisterial inquiry, videographed postmortem examination, preservation of evidence, and independent forensic evaluation have become essential safeguards in such cases. This review article comprehensively discusses the epidemiology, classification, legal framework, constitutional safeguards, forensic pathology, autopsy protocols, torture-related injuries, investigative procedures, prison healthcare, psychological aspects, human rights concerns, judicial trends, technological developments, and preventive strategies related to custodial deaths in India. Special emphasis is placed on the role of forensic medicine experts in ensuring scientific transparency, accountability, and justice. The article also examines contemporary challenges including underreporting, institutional pressure, evidentiary manipulation, inadequate forensic infrastructure, and implementation gaps. Recommendations for reforms in custodial management, forensic investigation, medico-legal education, and legal accountability are discussed in detail

New psychoactive substances (NPS) are chemically varied substances made to look like controlled drugs but not break the law. Their rapid emergence, unknown challenges pose growing public-health and forensic problems worldwide, including in Low and middle-income countries (LMICs). To evaluate the existing knowledge regarding NPS chemistry and epidemiology, analytical and laboratory challenges, public health implications, and applicable forensic responses pertinent to LMIC contexts, while proposing practical strategies to enhance surveillance, detection, and response. Narrative synthesis of global monitoring reports, technical updates, and peer-reviewed literature concentrating on NPS trends, analytical techniques, surveillance, and forensic casework, particularly in LMICs. Health effects can be anything from severe intoxication and psychosis to death when using very strong synthetic opioids or contaminated supplies. Forensic response in LMICs is limited by resource deficiencies; however, various pragmatic strategies, including regional networks, targeted LC–MS workflows, and shared spectral resources, can significantly enhance detection and public health initiatives. Investing in analytical methods that can be used on a large scale and are cost-effective, as well as working together with other regions, will make it more likely that new threats will be found, and that illness and death will be avoided

Mass disasters—whether natural or man-made—often lead to the tragic loss of multiple lives and present formidable challenges in victim identification. These events not only traumatize the immediate communities but also burden forensic systems and state machinery. The role of the forensic pathologist becomes crucial in such settings, both in the identification of victims and in determining the cause and manner of death. With specialized skills in human anatomy, pathology, trauma analysis, and forensic anthropology, the forensic pathologist becomes an integral member of the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team. This review outlines the structured DVI process, the responsibilities of the forensic pathologist at each stage, the inter-disciplinary collaboration required, and the application of emerging technologies such as post-mortem imaging, DNA profiling, and digital data management. The article also discusses ethical issues, challenges in international DVI operations, and recommendations for building DVI capacity through training and infrastructure. The ultimate goal remains to restore identity and dignity to the deceased while offering closure to bereaved families

Medical negligence litigation in India often suffers from vague pleadings, generalized allegations, and inadequate evidentiary support, leading to protracted trials and inconsistent outcomes. The Civil Procedure Code (CPC), though primarily procedural, provides critical mechanisms to ensure effective adjudication when applied rigorously in medicolegal disputes. This paper examines how CPC provisions—particularly those governing pleadings, burden of proof, and expert testimony—can be leveraged to strengthen the adjudicatory process in medical negligence cases. It argues that allegations must be specific, structured, and substantiated by expert opinion to meet the threshold of credibility and fairness. By analyzing statutory requirements alongside judicial precedents, the study demonstrates that precise pleadings and validated expert evidence not only safeguard practitioners from frivolous claims but also protect patients’ rights to justice. The paper concludes that a disciplined application of CPC provisions can transform medical negligence adjudication into a more efficient, equitable, and evidencedriven process, thereby reinforcing trust in both the healthcare and judicial systems.

Medical negligence litigation in India often hinges upon the interpretation and application of provisions under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). While civil remedies remain central to compensatory justice, criminal adjudication introduces procedural complexities that directly affect both healthcare practitioners and patients. This paper undertakes a critical appraisal of CrPC provisions invoked in medical negligence cases, with particular emphasis on Sections 154, 156, 190, 200, 202, and 482, which regulate investigation, cognizance, and judicial discretion. By employing an AI-assisted methodology, the study systematically analyzes case law to identify patterns in judicial reasoning, procedural safeguards, and inconsistencies in application. The integration of artificial intelligence enables a structured mapping of precedents, highlighting how courts balance statutory mandates with medical realities. Findings reveal that while CrPC provisions provide a framework for accountability, their inconsistent invocation often leads to uncertainty, prolonged litigation, and professional vulnerability. The paper argues for a harmonized interpretive approach that safeg-uards patient rights without undermining medical practice. Ultimately, this study contributes to the discourse on medico-legal reform by demonstrating how AI-driven analysis can enhance doctrinal clarity, judicial efficiency, and equitable adjudication in medical negligence litigation.

However, benzodiazepines are one of the most widespread drugs used in DFSA, second only to alcohol across all the cases. In fact, such drugs are ideal candidates for drink-spiking due to their rapid effect on the brain, significant anterograde amnesia, and inability to alter the taste, color, or smell of a drink. Furthermore, since benzodiazepines are prescribed by physicians on an extremely wide scale for anxiety or insomnia treatment, these drugs are easily available to criminals. This paper will review the mechanisms of action of normal and ‘designer’ benzodiazepines, vulnerable population groups, as well as the samples used in laboratory examinations of suspected DFSA. The paper will also analyze techniques used in testing for presence of benzodiazepines, including screening and mass spectrometry as well as newly developed lateral flow immunoassay strips. Finally, it will highlight several important problems of current testing, such as rapid excretion of the drug, inadequate standardization of laboratory techniques for identification of ‘designer’ drugs, as well as legal issues faced by victims. Key Messages: Benzodiazepines are widely used in drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA) due to rapid sedation and amnesia effects. This review covers their pharmacology, detection methods like LC-MS/MS and emerging point-of-care sensors, and current forensic and legal challenges.

The poisoning by heavy metal is considered to be a direct health hazard towards the occupational industrial workers present globally. The various forms of advancements which are made towards all the safety regulations followed by the management of exposure for the individuals employed in the industries like mining, smelting, production of battery, electroplating, welding, manufacturing of paint, tanneries and other recycling of the electronic waste is highly vulnerable towards the hazards that emits from the toxic metals which includes lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), cadium (Cd), arsenic (As), chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn) and nickel (Ni). This exposure certainly occurs from the inhalation of dust which is contaminated and also includes the fumes, dermal contract or any unintentional ingestion. This severity comes with the heavy form of metal toxicity that is the result of the acute poisoning made from the high level of exposure and other chronic poisoning made from the extended low level exposure that is completely also depended on the dosage, the duration of exposure and the entry made through routes. It can be understand in contrast with the chronic poisoning that also helps to develop over time and also may lead towards other form of irreversible damage made to the neurological, renal, hepatic, reproductive systems, and might be also associated with cancer. This review also certainly aims to provide for the contemporary insights and also the sources that is made with the exposure of the workplace exposure, the mechanism of toxicity, clinical manifestations, diagnostic approaches, treatment options, preventive measures, and future research directions. It also highlights towards the importance that helps to distinguish among the various acute and other chronic poisoning that also enhances the early detection followed by the workplace surveillance and other related preventive strategies

Toxicology in a workplace setting deals with chemical exposures at work and has two central themes: the mechanisms of how to understand chemical exposures and how to evaluate chemical exposures in the legal environment. The purpose of this review is to discuss the problem of work poisoning, work-related accidents, and chemical exposure litigation in the context of occupational toxicology. Literature was synthesised using peer-reviewed published studies, occupational health guidelines, and sources of forensic toxicology. Some of the main toxicants from the occupation are benzene, lead and its compounds, solvents, pesticides, and industrial gases. Most cases of acute poisoning occur as a result of accidents, for example, a leak, a spill, or an explosion; whereas occupational poisoning results predominantly in chronic poisoning. Toxicants are associated with the respiratory system, central nervous system, liver, kidneys, skin, and reproductive system. The critical elements of risk assessment and legal causation are occupational exposure limits (OELs), biomonitoring, and dose–response assessment. Forensic toxicologists are useful in the history of exposure evaluation, biological evaluation, and causation in the evaluation of compensation cases, as well as chemical injury cases. Workplace toxicology is the scientific foundation of occupational safety, accident investigation, and the evidence-based litigation process in the event of chemical exposure.