Govt must address concerns on DNA bill: Parl committee

NEW DELHI: The parliamentary standing committee on science and technology, in a report tabled on Wednesday, recommended that the government assuage concerns raised by the DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2019 both on the floor of the House and outside.

While recognising that the legislation is important bill in criminal investigations, a number of members who deposed before the committee raised concerns that the bill could be misused to target different segments of society.

Binoy Viswam, leader of the Communist Party of India parliamentary party and a member of the standing committee, and Asaduddin Owaisi, member of Parliament and president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, raised fears that provisions of the bill will lead to violation of the right to privacy.

“These fears are not entirely unfounded, [they have to be] recognized and addressed by the government and by Parliament as well. It does not, however, negate the need for such legislation, especially when DNA technology is already in use,” the committee noted in its report.

“In fact, its use in recent months has exposed a false encounter in which innocents were killed, contradicting initial claims that they were militants. The committee is of the strong opinion that an enabling ecosystem must be created soon to ensure that DNA profiling is done in a manner that is fully consistent with the letter and spirit of various Supreme Court judgments and with the Constitution of India,” the report added.

The encounter referred to by the report took place in Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir last year. DNA samples of the three men gunned down in July by security forces matched with those of their family members in Rajouri, belying allegations that they were terrorists.

The parliamentary committee has consulted legal and forensic science experts including members of the Internet Freedom Foundation, National Law University, Centre for Internet and Society, and Gujarat Forensic Sciences University, among others.

The main purpose of the bill, according to the Department of Biotechnology, is to enable the identification of missing children and individuals such as disaster victims; and apprehend repeat offenders guilty of crimes such as rape and murder.