Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs
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It allows regulated use of genetic information to establish identity of persons
The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed a bill that allows regulated use of DNA technology to establish the identity of certain defined categories of persons, including offenders, suspects, and undertrials. The DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill allows the use of the technology to establish the identity of persons in matters of crime, parentage dispute, emigration or immigration and transplantation of human organs. The Bill provides for establishment of national and regional DNA data banks and each data will maintain the indices, including crime scene index, suspects’ or undertrials’ index and offenders’ index.
Fears of misuse
Replying to the concerns raised by various members about the law being misused to carry unregulated DNA profiling, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, “The potential misuse of DNA samples is not restricted to the biological material, which is collected under the provisions of this DNA Bill alone. Any and every blood sample collected by clinical laboratory has the same potential for misuse”. Kalyan Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress said the the Bill was a good step in the criminal justice system but cautioned about a possible scenario where it could be misused by investigative agencies while collecting DNA samples.
