Move to involve forensic docs in DNA fingerprinting fails

Jaipur: State govt's decision in 2022 to prepare a pool of doctors from SMS Medical College's department of forensic medicine to assist investigating agencies in criminal cases, by preparing DNA fingerprinting reports, has failed to meet its objective. Rajasthan was the first state which had taken such a decision.

Fingerprinting machines worth crores of rupees were installed at SMS Medical College. However, the college lacked adequate resources to operate them effectively. In fact, machines were never used in the last two years.

Now, the govt has issued an order to shift the machines to the state Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL). Dr Deepak Maheshwari, principal and controller, SMS Medical College, said, "It is a govt decision. The machines will be shifted to FSL. We (SMS Medical College) will have no role in fingerprinting. But the machines will function. The important thing is that the machines will run irrespective of who is using them."

DNA fingerprinting provides breakthrough evidence for investigating agencies, but many samples are pending for tests. The govt decided to involve forensic medicine doctors to help speed up investigations in thousands of pending criminal cases. For this, the govt set up a laboratory specifically for it.

Running a DNA fingerprinting laboratory involves legal issues. According to sources at SMS Hospital, in the courts DNA fingerprinting or DNA profiling is acceptable if prepared by FSL scientists. The govt needs to amend the law to make DNA fingerprinting reports prepared by doctors of forensic medicine acceptable in courts. Additionally, the doctors also need to be trained in DNA fingerprinting with the help of scientists of FSL.

Recently, Rajasthan High Court noted the accumulation of pending DNA fingerprinting reports, which led to increased court case backlogs. In a recent court appearance, the director (FSL Rajasthan) disclosed that 22,000 FSL and DNA reports remain unprocessed, despite the state operating four laboratories, with two in Jaipur and individual facilities in Ajmer and Jodhpur.