DNA Profiling In The India (Towards The New Age DNA Technology Use And Application Bill)

A decade ago, the whole country was sent flying into a state of bewilderment by the news headlines flashing on the TV screens that morning. An individual named Rohit Shekhar Tiwari had filed a paternity suit against three times Chief Minister of the state of Uttar Pradesh, Shri Narayan Dutt Tiwari, a political stalwart by all means. After a long and bitter tussle between Mr Tiwari and the Delhi High Court, he was finally compelled to a DNA mapping test which subsequently confirmed his fatherhood. Failing to refute the science behind it, Mr. Tiwari finally accepted Rohit as his son and married his mother, Ujjwala Tiwari. Thus a saga of utter inconclusiveness ended with the interference of this 'now so prominent' technology of DNA profiling. DNA stands expanded as Deoxyribonucleic Acid, the fundamental building blocks of the building called Life. A DNA pattern is fundamentally distinctive from arguably every other DNA pattern that exists, the only exception being in the case of identical twins. So, a DNA can roughly be understood as a unique identity card provided to us, by the nature. The identity provided by this card is beyond challenge and to an extent, even unquestionable, which now has been well established by a plethora of judgements worldwide. From verifying bizarre claims such as being Aishwarya Rai's son(YES, a man in Andhra Pradesh has done that!) to identifying and uniting families after disastrous incidents, this tech has a large portfolio of usages and is undeniably a ground breaking technology in today's world

DNA profiling and fingerprinting came into use around three decades ago, in the late 1980s and the first criminal case in which this technology was used, was for a case in a village in the United Kingdom, where the technology indirectly helped in nabbing a criminal diagnosed with psychosexual pathology and guilty of the rape and murder of two minors. This case catapulted the technology into worldwide attention and has exponentially evolved ever since, helping in the successful conviction of millions of criminals.

DNA fingerprinting has been a useful tool in law enforcement as it works both ways, vis securing correct convictions and also exonerating the innocent. Furthermore, DNA fingerprinting unlike other forensic evidence, can be collected easily and sustains for long thereby increasing chances of accurate analysis by manifold. But as every coin has two sides, the DNA profiling technology too, has a darker and gloomier side where the misuse of the data so obtained can result in huge damage to the individual and to the society as a whole.

This brings us to the question, that how important it is to regulate the said technology and streamline its usage only for the benefit and betterment of the society and how can it be done. With a technology with extensive usage such as this one, regulation cannot be merely done by making changes to the existing law, rather it requires to be controlled and dealt by a special law. This question was taken up by the parliament through the Department of BIOTECHNOLOGY, when it came up with 'The use and regulation of DNA based technology in Civil and Criminal proceedings, Identification of missing persons and Human remains Bill, 2016'. The parliament forwarded the bill to the Law Commission of India and the bill was edited and redrafted as "The DNA technology (Use and Regulation) Bill, 2017". The bill has been passed in the Lok Sabha and is awaiting for the Rajya Sabha's confirmation and the Presidential Assent.

Uses of the DNA Profiling Technology

The DNA technology has both Civil and Criminal uses in today's society. Other than extensive use in criminal cases such as corroborative evidence and the identification of DVIs (Disaster Victim Identification), the technology is also used in civil matters such as determination of Kinship and establishing biological parentage. This technology is also being used in research to cure genetic defects from being carried over to the offspring as well as detecting genetic flaws to cure genetic diseases such as Cancer, Diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. It also has further medical applicability as the technology is used to match the tissues of the donor and recipient in cases of organ donation. With the advent in newer methods of profiling and analysis, the usage of DNA in various other fields will only grow with time. And that necessitates the discussion of the next part, the International human rights aspect attached to the technology and the scope of its abuse and how other societies across the planet have, or are planning to deal with it.

Present legal conundrum around...