To reduce backlog of cases, advanced forensic lab to come up in Chandigarh
Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi laid the foundation stone of an advanced DNA forensic laboratory in Chandigarh on Friday, as part efforts to reduce the backlog of cases needing advanced forensic analysis.
Built at a cost of Rs 99.76 crore from the Nirbhaya Fund, the state-of-the-art 'Sakhi Suraksha' lab, will come up at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory campus to assist in investigation and prosecution of crimes including those committed against women and children, an official release said.
Speaking at the event, the minister said forensic analysis plays critical role in criminal investigation and the upcoming lab will contribute in addressing the gap in forensic DNA analysis of pending sexual assault cases in the country.
It will be a model forensic lab that would be replicated in other parts of the country, she added.
On the completion of the project by the end of this year, the new laboratory will help to meet the demand for more admissible, accurate and powerful forensic proof in the cases of crime against women and children.
As per data collected from 23 labs across the country, 20,000 new cases of sexual assault are received annually for forensic analysis but the labs are not adequately equipped to deal with the ever increasing cases.
This is one of the reason delays are caused in investigation and prosecution, the release said.
The new facility is expected to increase the capacity of the lab from the current 150 cases per year to over 2000 cases per year, helping to reduce the current backlog of cases in which forensic DNA analysis is pending. This will particularly plug the gap in northern region, which has the highest pendency of such cases, it said.
According to the plan, the lab will have four units-- sexual assault and homicide, paternity, human identification, and mitochondrial.
Apart from the sexual assault and homicide units, the other three are interlinked and will work to examine cases related to crime against women and children, the release said.
The paternity unit is essential to solve cases related to criminal paternity, gender selection and child swapping in hospitals. Human identification unit is important in cases of missing persons or children.
The mitochondrial unit will conduct mitochondrial DNA analysis in cases where regular nuclear DNA analysis is not possible such as in case of highly degraded samples. It can also be used to better explore family relationships, said the release, it said.
"These units will be equipped with the latest infrastructure and increased automation for faster disposal of cases," it said.
"Major technology upgrade will include installation of digital autoclaves, bio-incubators, tissue lyzers, auto-extraction equipment, gel documentation systems, real-time polymerised chain reaction, thermal cyclers, DNA sequencers, liquid handling systems as well as robust software for statistical analysis and data management among many other major and minor equipment," it added.
Forensic science plays a vital role in the criminal justice delivery system by providing investigators with scientifically based information through analysis of physical evidence.
With increasing reports of crime against women such as sexual assault, female foeticide, homicide etc, there is an increasing demand for better scientific analysis of physical evidence, the release said. PTI
