Sealed Packet
Definition
Sample container packed inside a cloth or paper outer, tied with thread, wax-sealed under the IO's personal seal, and signed by IO and panch witnesses. The packet's integrity at FSL intake is what the chain of custody is built around.
- Outer wrap
- Cloth or paper, tied with thread
- Seal
- Wax, under the investigating officer's personal seal
- Signatories
- Investigating officer and panch witnesses
- Jurisdiction
- India, poisoning and general exhibit handling
- Function
- Anchor point for chain of custody at FSL intake
Common questions
Why does the IO's personal wax seal matter more than a generic tamper-evident sticker?+
A personal seal, whose impression is registered and can be matched to the specific officer, ties the packet's integrity to an identifiable individual who can testify to having sealed it, which Indian courts have treated as central evidence when custody is challenged at trial.
What happens if the FSL receives a packet with a broken seal?+
A broken or mismatched seal at intake is grounds for the laboratory to flag the sample and can be used by the defense to argue the chain of custody was compromised, potentially undermining the evidentiary value of whatever analysis follows.
Why are panch witnesses required to sign the sealed packet in addition to the investigating officer?+
Independent witness signatures corroborate that the sealing happened as described and were not staged solely by the investigating agency, which addresses a specific concern in Indian criminal procedure about single-source evidence handling being open to fabrication claims.
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