Context:
- The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, launched the UID (Unidentified Dead bodies Identification) Portal on October 18, 2025, to identify unidentified bodies and trace missing persons across India using DNA-based technology.
- This initiative integrates forensic medicine, digital governance, and biotechnology, aligning with the government’s push toward tech-enabled governance and public safety.
Key Highlights:
- Launch and Objective
- The UID portal (also called UMID website) hosts data of 1,700+ unidentified bodies and missing persons.
- Designed to resolve long-pending identification cases through DNA data comparison and facial/phenotypic features.
- Annually, India records approximately 50,000 unidentified bodies and over 3 lakh missing persons — a serious administrative and humanitarian concern.
- Functionality and Public Interface
- The UMID platform provides public access to physical descriptions, photographs, and phenotype details of unidentified bodies.
- Family members can search for possible matches and contact postmortem centers or DNA labs for confirmation.
- Each entry is linked to a DNA profile, ensuring scientific accuracy in identification.
- Institutional and Technical Framework
- Developed by AIIMS Delhi’s Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, in collaboration with regional medical institutes and ICMR support.
- The pilot phase (2022–2025) established DNA collection and digitization processes; the second phase introduces a centralized web interface.
- Currently functional at seven centers, with plans to expand to 14 more and integrate forensic labs nationwide.
- Uses a secure algorithm to compare stored DNA profiles for potential matches.
Relevant Prelims Points:
- DNA Profiling:
- A forensic technique that identifies individuals by analyzing unique DNA sequences.
- Used for criminal investigations, disaster victim identification, and missing persons tracing.
- UMID Portal:
- Publicly accessible database combining biometric, photographic, and DNA evidence for identification.
Relevant Mains Points:
- Significance:
- Strengthens rule of law and humanitarian justice by identifying victims with dignity.
- Enhances inter-agency coordination between police, hospitals, and forensic labs.
- Contributes to internal security by linking crime data, missing persons, and unidentified bodies.
- Challenges:
- Privacy and data protection concerns regarding sensitive DNA information.
- Need for robust cybersecurity and ethical guidelines for genomic data storage.
- Interoperability issues among state-level forensic systems.
- Governmental and Legal Framework:
- The DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2019 — aims to regulate DNA profiling for identification while ensuring privacy safeguards.
- National Forensic Infrastructure Mission under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) promotes modernization of forensic facilities.
- Way Forward:
- Establish National DNA Data Bank integrated with police and health systems.
- Enhance capacity-building for forensic scientists and law enforcement.
- Implement data protection laws aligned with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.