HC: DNA test must on victims’ bodies

In a significant order, the Hyderabad High Court has directed that Directors-General of Police of both Telangana state and Andhra Pradesh to order investigation officers to collect samples of hair, tissues and blood from dead bodies in medico-legal cases and send them for DNA tests to identify the victims.

A division bench of Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar and Justice Shameem Akhter made the order while acquitting a life convict in a case of killing a woman.

The judges said that though there were no witnesses to identify the victim, whose body was found floating in a well in a highly decomposed state, the investigation officer did not collect body samples.

The bench felt that if the samples were collected and sent along with blood samples of the relatives of the deceased for forensic tests, there was possibility that she could have been identified. The bench held that in similar cases, investigating officers were required to identify the body by following the procedure to conduct DNA tests.

The bench said, “DNA fingerprinting can connect the crime scene or a body to another individual. Dry blood stains and sperm can also be used for a DNA test. These tests are useful in various criminal investigations involving offences like rape, murder, kidnapping, exchange of babies, infanticide, abandonment of newborn child, illegal abortion, paternity related disputes, immigration, inheritance, assignation etc.”

The bench said that the DNA test, a new scientific invention which is used for scientific investigation in criminal cases, was useful in cases where witnesses were not available.

The bench said the main advantage of the using DNA was that the test could be done using small samples and could establish their origins with a high degree of certainty.

“DNA is stable and resistant to degradation caused by environmental changes,” the bench said.