The 2015 draft DNA Fingerprinting Bill is back in a new version, and includes some
important additions
and deletions. What are they? What is the need for such a law in the first
place, and what are
the problems with having one?
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extremely useful and accurate technology in ascertaining the identity of a
person from his/her
DNA sample, or establishing biological relationships between
individuals.
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After a gap of two
years, a proposed legislation to regulate and standardise DNA testing is
back in discussion.
Last week, the Centre informed the Supreme Court that it was preparing
to finalise a fresh
version of the DNA Fingerprinting Bill, a draft of which was ready in 2015
but could not be
introduced in Parliament. Also last week, the Law Commission of India
released a revised
draft of the Bill that is now called The DNA Based Technology (Use and
Regulation) Bill,
2017 with some very important changes.
The proposed law,
which has been in the making since 2003, seeks to establish regulatory
institutions and
standards for DNA testing, and supervise the activities of all laboratories
authorised to carry
out such tests.
DNA analysis is an
extremely useful and accurate technology in ascertaining the identity of a
person from his/her
DNA sample, or establishing biological relationships between
individuals. A hair
sample, or even bloodstains from clothes, from a scene of crime, for
example, can be
matched with that of a suspect, and it can, in most cases, be conclusively
established whether
the DNA in the sample belongs to the suspected individual. As a result,
DNA technology is
being increasingly relied upon in investigations of crime, identification of
unidentified bodies,
or in determining parentage.
But information from
DNA samples can reveal not just how a person looks, or what their eye
colour or skin colour
is, but also more intrusive information like their allergies, or
susceptibility to
diseases. As a result, there is a greater risk of information from DNA
analysis getting
misused. This is why some groups are opposed to the Bill — they have been
advocating greater
caution in collecting, storing and using a person’s genetic data. The whole
debate has been over
provisions that can minimise the risks of misuse.
What the Bill
proposes
The Bill seeks to set
up two new institutions — a DNA Profiling Board and a DNA Data
Bank. The Board, with
11 members, is supposed to be the regulatory authority that will grant
accreditation to DNA
laboratories and lay down guidelines, standards and procedures for
their functioning. It
will advise central and state governments on “all issues relating to DNA
laboratories”. It
will also be the authority to make recommendations on ethical and human
rights, including
privacy, issues related to DNA testing.
A national databank
of DNA profiles is proposed to be set up, along with regional databanks
in every state, or
one for two or more states, as required. In the 2015 draft, the national
databank was proposed
to be set up at Hyderabad, possibly because the Centre for DNA
Fingerprinting and
Diagnostics, the premier DNA laboratory, is located there. The new draft
does not specify the
location of the national databank. All regional DNA databanks will be
mandated to share
their information with the national databank.
DNA, DNA tech Bill,
DNA testing, DNA testing technology, DNA profiles, DNA samples,
Law Commission,
Supreme court
Certain DNA Profiling
Board-accredited labs would be authorised to carry out DNA testing
and analysis. These
are the only places to which DNA samples, picked up from a crime
scene, for example,
by police, can be referred for analysis. Data from the analyses will need
to be shared with the
nearest regional DNA databank which will store it and share it with the
national databank.
The databanks will
maintain five sets of databases — for DNA samples picked up from crime
scenes, for suspects
or undertrials, and for offenders, missing persons, and unidentified dead
bodies. The previous
Bill provided for maintaining a database of people who volunteered to
give their DNA profiles,
but that has now been deleted. A provision for creation of other
indices “as may be
specified by the regulations”, too, has been left out.
The objections
The main issue is
whether DNA technology is foolproof, and whether the proposed law
adequately addresses
the possibility of abuse. It has been argued that although DNA
technology is the
best method available to carry out this kind of identification, it is still
probabilistic in
nature. There are chances, however remote, that a wrong match is generated.
If the DNA result is
taken as the ultimate evidence, no recourse will be available to an
individual who has
been wrongly matched.
More frequently
asserted are the privacy-related objections. Questions such as whose DNA
can be collected and
under what circumstances, whether the consent of the individual is
required, who can
access the database, to what uses the DNA information can be put apart
from identifying an
individual, and the circumstances under which a record can be deleted,
have been raised
repeatedly. It has been pointed out that information like ancestry or
susceptibility to a
disease, or other genetic traits, is liable to be misused. It has also been
argued that DNA tests
have not led to an improvement in conviction rates in countries where
it is already being
followed.
The justifications
The new draft Bill
does try to address some of these concerns, although it reiterates complete
faith in DNA
technology. DNA profiling is “an accurate and well established scientific
technique”, says the
Law Commission report that has proposed the new draft.
The new draft Bill
does try to address some of these concerns, although it reiterates complete
faith in DNA
technology. DNA profiling is “an accurate and well established scientific
technique”, says the
Law Commission report that has proposed the new draft.
The draft has
introduced a new provision that explicitly prohibits the collection of any
“bodily substance”
from an arrested individual (for the purposes of a DNA test) without
his/her consent,
except if the individual is arrested for certain specific offences. However, if
the consent “is
refused without good cause”, and a magistrate is satisfied of the need for a
DNA test, he/she can
order the arrested person to give a sample.
Samples picked up
from a crime scene, belonging to those who are not offenders or suspects,
would not be matched
with the databases. Such DNA profiles would have to be expunged
from the records on a
written request from the individual concerned.
The new Bill has also
removed a provision that allowed DNA profiles in the databank to be
used for “creation
and maintenance of population statistics databank”.
While the penalty for
misuse of data remains a prison term of up to three years and a fine up
to Rs 1 lakh, a
reference to a minimum prison term of one month has been removed.
Source: The Indian Express
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