The Tamil Nadu government on Saturday, November 20 launched a Forensic DNA Profile Search Tool, which it said will be useful for various purposes, including reuniting abducted and missing children with parents based on DNA. Tamil Nadu is the first state in India to introduce the technology, which was launched by Chief Minister MK Stalin, an official release said. In foreign countries, combining DNA with IT has increased efficiency manifold and such a technology was not available in the country so far, the release said.
The tool, developed by the state Forensic Sciences Department, will be useful in reuniting abducted and missing children with parents by matching their DNA; tracking inter-state criminals; identifying persons resorting to repeated crimes and identifying unidentified bodies and human skeletons, it said.
A police officer told the Times of India that within the present structure of the Police Department, identifying and isolating DNA samples is a time-consuming process. With the new Forensic DNA Profile Search Tool, which has advanced kits, accurate results can be obtained in a shorter time even in the most challenging casework samples, the official told ToI.
According to The New Indian Express, a police officer working with the Forensics Department said that the Forensic DNA Profile Search Tool can also be used to solve cases of rape, sexual assault and murder, as small particles found on victims in such cases can be traced to the perpetrator. Particularly in the case of degraded samples that may not be able to provide a complete profile, the search tool can provide a more accurate match, by collecting DNA profiles of individuals with criminal records, like former convicts and history sheeters, the official told TNIE.
A CB-CID official also told TNIE that in cases where multiple perpetrators are involved leading to overlapping of evidence, the new tool will reduce the time taken to separate the samples and to obtain more precise results.
With PTI inputs