Tortious acts have emerged and evolved over time ever since the existence of human societies. Human being intend to progress towards attaining greater and greater satisfaction in whatever way it comes. During this quest, torts or in certain cases serious crimes ensue, advertently or inadvertently. A society like ours under tremendous pressure is comparatively more susceptible to psychological disorders which in turn lead to commission of crimes. The criminal justice system plays an important role here in keeping a check on negative energies and delivering the individuals from the negative cognitive bias through delivery of justice. This justice acts as a soothing balm for those who suffered at the hands of criminals and concurrently sheers hope to the acquiescent. In the historical prospective, King Solomon, as mentioned in Hebrew Bible, is reported to have successfully delivered justice to a mother. Two women came up for the justice claiming for a child. It was a difficult situation because both the women showed equal love and enthusiasm for the child. The king made a verdict by ordering to cut the child in to two equal halves so that each one of them could be given an equal part. The actual mother spurned the proposal while the other one accepted. By displaying the act of wisdom, the King discerned who the actual mother was.
The first written account of using expert testimony is found in Holly Quran in chapter 12 verses 27-29, where Yusuf (AS) is mentioned to have been charged with a false allegation of seducing a woman. The dispute was settled during arbitration on seeing that his shirt was torn from behind. Use of entomology and medicine in solving crimes is attributed to Song Ci’s “Washing away of wrongs” in 1247. Thus it can be said that forensics has its roots in the early establishment of human history. In his pigeon-hole theory, Salmond stated that specific torts are like pigeon-holes and to prove ones case one has to prove that the wrong committed falls in one of the pigeon-holes. The Corpus Dilecti can link crime with criminal and the process of building support for the purpose goes through different stages. Adding more and more scientific principles makes the evidence more and more objective and the subjectivity is progressively lost. The case is made stronger by adding more objective physical evidences, the evidences having certain dimensions. The aim of forensic science is to work exclusively for bringing in more and more objective evidence in the court room. Almost every scientific principal finds its scope in forensic science, may it be Physical, Chemical or Biological sciences, Psychology, fingerprinting, etc. Despite all these efforts the system has a serious drawback of being reactive rather than proactive as a result of which the crimes do take place in our society. In the present scenario the methods adapted in committing crimes like rape and murder have shaken the roots of social existence. The system is rendered handicapped because the support of forensic science is either not evolved to keep a pace with the newer ways of committing crimes or not appreciated to be a point of focus. This is evident from the conviction rates especially in completely inhuman and brutal felonies like rape and murder. Therefore it is in earnest to accept and appreciate the power of science in crime detection accepting Locard’s principle of exchange of physical evidences.
There is a variety of tools which can be exploited in boosting the strength of physical evidences as potent and robust sources of information in Criminal Justice System. DNA fingerprinting is one such field having an exceptional power of discrimination between individuals and linking crime with the criminal. In this irrefutable field of crime detection, less than 3 % of human DNA sequences (Short Tandem Repeats) out of more than three billion, showing high polymorphism are utilized in the technique. A small drop of blood or semen or a stain thereof can be successfully utilized to generate a complete profile of desired STR markers. The technique is as fit as a fiddle and so powerful that no two individuals are expected to carry similarity on all the STR markers studied except monozygotic twins, provided the DNA is collected, preserved, amplified and genotyped accurately.
The selected locations (STR markers) are chosen based on their polymorphic character and primers designed against the flanking regions so as to amplify the desired region in to millions of copies using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Each individual has two alleles at each locus, one inherited from mother and the other from father, based on simple genetic principles. Based on these genetic principles a profile generated from the forensic sample, collected from the crime scene, is compared by comparing the length polymorphism at the selected STR markers, with the reference sample if any or stored for future matching. There can be some problem in ascertaining the differences in siblings; however the differences are still enough that the two siblings can easily be differentiated by studying all the markers together.
Owing to the invincible and indomitable strength of DNA evidence, a project known as “Innocence Project” was started in US by Scheck and Neufeld in 1992. They reported by studying 200 wrongful convictions that 87% were due to faulty eye-witness identification, using DNA profiling. In a situation where eye-witness identification is considered as the recreant and most criticized type of evidence due to factors like faulty memory, faulty vision, threats and fears and intentional deception; it is believed that DNA evidence will stand at the top in the priority list of physical evidences.
DNA as a forensic evidence has been under discussion in the recent past especially in India due to a belief that it has a direct interference in right of privacy considered under Article 21 of the constitution. However, the DNA technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2018 approved for discussion clearly mentions the scope of analysis. STR analysis does not at all breach the subject of one’s right of privacy as it is said and there are clear cut guidelines for the limited use of information to be infered from the DNA. The bill has strict regulations for collection, retention and removal of STR profiles and misuse of the genetic information of a person. Even for demanding sample for DNA analysis, the consent of the person is to be sought in case the offence caries a punishment up to seven years. For the offence carrying death penalty or imprisonment of more than seven years the consent is not required. The bill also specifies punishments for disclosure of information, misuse of information, unauthorized sampling, etc.
Thus the need of the hour is, to appreciate and approve the power of DNA fingerprinting and other allied fields in vogue in our Criminal Justice Delivery System and help in strengthening these innovative methods so that the justice is delivered.
The blood or semen that the perpetrator of crime deposits or collects-all these and more bear mute witness against him. This is evidence that does not forget….physical evidence can not be wrong; it can not perjure itself; it can not be wholly absent; only human failure to find, study and understand it can diminish its value.
(Paul Kirk)
The author, Dr. Nadeem Mubarik, is a DNA fingerprinting Expert at forensic Science Laboratory Jammu and Kashmir, Srinagar
mubarik.nadeem@gmail.com
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