Push for DNA database

DNA database, NCRB, Indian Penal Code, DNA fingerprints, DNA collection, DNA testing, sexual assault cases

Representational Image.

Amid a growing clamour for setting up a DNA database in India and bringing legislation for the purpose, experts are now coming out in the open to dispel the myths on privacy breach to pave way for enactment of a law in the country.

This issue of bringing a legislation was taken during a workshop ‘Where is the DNA’ that was recently held in Shimla with the aim to sensitise the police as well as raise a voice for adopting globally accepted technology.

Experts say forensic DNA is the world’s greatest crime-fighting technology as it is highly accurate and globally accepted as a gold standard for human identification from biological evidence. So far, many countries are effectively using forensic labs and protocols to collect, test and compare DNA at crime scenes with promising results.

According to the NCRB report, a total of 48,31,515 cognizable crimes comprising 29,75,711 Indian Penal Code (IPC) crimes and 18,55,804 Special and Local Laws (SLL) crimes were reported in 2016.

This shows an increase of 2.6 per cent over 2015 (47,10,676 cases). The total crimes were recorded to be 2.97 million while the crime rate was found to be 379 crimes per lakh population.

These cases include murder, abduction, rape, dowry death and fatal accidents and there has been a spike in 2018 as compared to the previous year.

Experts say that rape and sexual assault crime against women is a serious societal problem in India. Even as crime rate escalates, conviction rate in rape and sexual assault cases has fallen from nearly 50 per cent in 2012 to less than 30 per cent in 2015 in Delhi alone.

A staggering number (around 1.4 lakh rape cases) of sexual assault still stand pending in courts nationwide for the want of conclusive evidence in such cases.

This is the result of low DNA collection rate for violent and sexual crimes in India and in addition, the significant backlog in the crime labs further aggravate the problem, Dr VK Kashyap, former Chief Scientist, Directorate of Forensic Sciences, Delhi said.

Without the ability to test for DNA fingerprints from violent and sexual crimes quickly, police are unable to confirm a suspect’s involvement in a crime and courts are unable to use the DNA to arrive at a conviction, he said.

In India, not enough DNA is being ‘collected’, tested’ and ‘compared’ in crime scenes which amount to poor conviction and very high pendency rate.

This is owing to multiple issues that range from weak law enforcement infrastructure, inadequate forensics infrastructure to conduct DNA tests, to inadequate legal framework required to expedite the criminal judicial system. Furthermore, myths about DNA technology being a means for unauthorised data collection and a threat to privacy have proved to be a barrier to adoption.

“We clearly lack awareness and knowledge on the use and application of forensic DNA testing, in every strata of society, whether it is judiciary, legal, law enforcement or even general public awareness. While low adoption rate can be attributed to poor infrastructure and policy push, the root of the problem is knowledge gaps and misconceptions about DNA forensics across all levels of our society,” Kashyap said.

The case of a serial rapist who had allegedly raped and murdered over 20 girls in Mumbai is a perfect example to pitch the case for DNA database. The accused had committed his first crime in 2010 but he was arrested in 2018 on the basis of DNA test (around 900 tests were conducted by cops).

If there had been a DNA database, the accused could have been arrested earlier by matching the samples of accused with that of the victims, he added.

Same is the case with gangrape case of a schoolgirl in Shimla district of Himachal as the accused was previously involved in sexual assault cases and was even arrested.

However, it is important to appreciate how India is slowly but steadily progressing towards adopting DNA profiling.

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