Forensic Psychology to Understand Crime and Criminals: Here is How Krupa Nishar is Working for it!

How much of the moral quandary must one deal with to create a game out of real-life crime scenes and incidents that have happened? In the words of the forensic psychologist Krupa Nishar, who has made such games, it is acceptable to accept two facts together; the country is full of crimes and citizens must be aware of them, at least, to an extent. 

But Nishar’s games are not just about that. As we speak on a video conversation, she speaks from a research organisation in Mumbai she is working for as a crime researcher where her work is to conduct field surveys to ascertain the potential causes of the crime and submit the reports to the policy stakeholders like police commissioners and child welfare committees to aid in policy decisions and crime prevention who can further work towards the mitigation and prevention. 

One of the projects, she tells us, was aimed at identifying a past project on high-risk areas for crime against women in Mumbai. “We identified that slum areas like Dharavi and other such clusters were more prone to violence, whereas areas like Andheri-Bandra witness more digital crimes,” she says about the research, which, ultimately, resulted in increased community policing and social outreach programs. 

Simultaneously, however, she organises gaming sessions for the public, using all her knowledge gained during her graduation in Forensic Psychology from the Gujarat Forensic Sciences University, now known as the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU), and her experience as an Assistant Professor in the same university. 

“After getting back from Gujarat when I shifted back to Mumbai, I missed teaching forensic psychology, which would involve conversations about the minds of the criminals, and I thought, such an understanding is important among people to spread awareness and prevent potential crimes,” Nishar, 28, narrates. 

Born and brought up in Mumbai, Nishar conducted the first such session under the name ‘Forensic Funhouse’, while the other two such editions took place in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar. “It instantly went full with 32 participants that motivated me to continue this further,” she says. As we speak, she has also organised two more such game sessions in Mumbai and to a surprise, for an unconventional gaming session, she mentioned having made profits beyond just reaching the break-even point with her investments. 

Understanding crimes, criminals and minds

In one of the recently-concluded sessions at Mumbai’s Joy Avenue, people, who belonged to all age groups, from 5-year-olds to even ones in their 60s, played “Mind Maze”, a treasure hunt where Nishar created a crime scene and people were expected to find out the criminals. 

To instil a sense of experiential learning, another game, “Crime Bingo” had the faces of real-life criminals that people were expected to guess from the hints given of the crimes committed by them. Nishar calls out the psychological traits like “superficial charm,” “lack of empathy,” “manipulative tendencies” while participants have to match them with real-life criminals. “It is to take out the psychology out of the classrooms and blend it with gaming to inform and make people aware,” she says.

Another game that she includes comes from her own theatre workshop experiences, called, ‘The Absurd Act’ where the participants get a chance to take up the roles like that of bank robbers, police negotiators, or terrified bystanders. “It is the simulation exposure missing in India and this way it becomes both fun and real.”

Nishar has also added games like ‘Judgement Day’, where the participants are given a criminal case where a suspect has already been arrested. But they get to play judge and review the evidence themselves and ascertain whether they are judging without removing their biases or not. “It includes determining the cognitive biases or the pressure that the judiciary has,” adds Nishar.

On the other hand, such games further help people come out of their biases, Nishar has observed. Narrating one of the recent findings out of such a game, she says, “One participant was elated to know that a cobbler, whom he approached as part of the game, realised how happy he was with life and even presented with options denied any involvement in crime to make his life better. We usually have a notion that people living on the margins of livelihood are more prone to crimes, but such is not the case, and these games help in understanding people’s behaviour.”

An experience that led to the visionary initiative

Along with studying in NFSU, Nishar’s also worked at the juvenile home in Dongri and the women-focused One Stop Centre, and worked on a Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD). 

Additionally, she was also part of a project studying recidivism in Tihar Jail and trained police personnel at NFSU in forensic tools, including polygraph tests, narco-analysis, brain profiling, and advanced technologies such as LVS and LVA, which analyse speech to detect deception and emotional distress.

Detailing how popular culture shapes public understanding of crime, Nishar, who also appeared as an expert on DocuBay’s The Dupatta Killer, says that the actual crime is “messy and involves a lot of processes”. “Regardless of how brutal the state of affairs is, people must know it and also be aware of identifying the criminal activity and patterns to be saved,” she says.

However, Nishar does admit that ‘Criminal Justice’, ‘Delhi Crime’, ‘Juvenile Justice’ on Netflix, and even the movie Drishyam have been worth watching for her.