{"id":13241,"date":"2017-12-12T13:49:08","date_gmt":"2017-12-12T08:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=13241"},"modified":"2017-12-12T13:49:08","modified_gmt":"2017-12-12T08:19:08","slug":"dna-investigation-where-does-india-lags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/dna-investigation-where-does-india-lags\/","title":{"rendered":"DNA investigation: where does India lags?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><u>Context: <\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The law machinery world over is increasingly relying on DNA forensics to solve crime, whereas <strong>India is lagging behind in adoption.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It is time to take a serious look at how this technology, that has become crucial in establishing both guilt and innocence.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><u>What is DNA?<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the <strong>hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Nearly every cell in a person\u2019s body has the <strong>same DNA<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><u>Where is DNA located?<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Most DNA is located in the <strong>cell nucleus<\/strong> (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the <strong>mitochondria<\/strong> (where it is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).<\/li>\n<li>DNA can typically be extracted from <strong>blood and semen stains on clothes<\/strong> or on the <strong>body, from hair and teeth (with roots)<\/strong>, and even from <strong>bones and flesh<\/strong> if they are not completely charred.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><u>What is the structure of DNA?<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>DNA is a <strong>long, double stranded molecule that consists of two single molecular chains wrapped around each other<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Each strand consists of a series <strong>of bases connected to each other through a backbone of sugar molecules<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Four bases of DNA:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There are four different bases: <strong>adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>They are very frequently <strong>referred to simply by their first initials<\/strong>: A, G, C and T.<\/li>\n<li>The order of those bases on a strand of DNA is called the<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>sequence on one strand of DNA is matched by a complementary sequence on its opposite<\/strong>, matched strand.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><u>Why DNA is called the blueprint of life?<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>DNA is called the <strong>\u201cblueprint of life\u201d<\/strong> because it contains the <strong>instructions needed for an organism to grow, develop, survive and reproduce.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Every organism that we know of depends upon <strong>proteins to live<\/strong> and DNA is the <strong>macromolecule that stores the information needed to create all the proteins<\/strong> needed for life.<\/li>\n<li>The proteins that DNA enables the encoding of come together to forms <strong>cells, tissues, and organs. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Whatever it is that organizes those proteins<\/strong> together could be thought of as the <strong>blueprint for those structures.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><u>What is DNA fingerprinting?<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>DNA fingerprinting is a <strong>method used to identify an individual from a sample of DNA.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It simultaneously <strong>detects lots of minisatellites in the genome to produce a pattern unique to an individual.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The probability of having two people with the same DNA fingerprint<\/strong> that are not identical twins <strong>is very small<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><u>How can DNA fingerprinting be a useful tool in investigating crime?<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>DNA fingerprinting as a tool of investigation is <strong>very accurate<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>It extends to the way it can <strong>separate through crime scene evidence<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Advanced DNA fingerprinting can make <strong>separate prints of various individuals even from a sample mixture<\/strong> found at the crime scene.<\/li>\n<li>For example: In a gangrape case, <strong>DNA fingerprinting can identify each of the individuals involved in the act<\/strong> through one sample.<\/li>\n<li>In such cases, it becomes the <strong>clinching evidence against the accused<\/strong>, and also helps vindicate those whose samples do not match.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><u>What are the benefits in implementing DNA based investigations?<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It is an <strong>easy and painless method<\/strong> for the subject being tested.<\/li>\n<li>It is an <strong>affordable and reliable technique<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Anyone at any age can be tested<\/strong> with this method without any major concerns.<\/li>\n<li>There is a large variety of uses such as in <strong>legal claims, missing persons cases, identification for the military, and paternity and prenatal testing<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><u>What are the problems in implementing DNA based investigations?<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>sample of DNA can easily be ruined<\/strong> during the process, causing the sample to become completely useless for testing<\/li>\n<li>The process itself is <strong>complex and tedious<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>It can give results that may be <strong>hard to interpret<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Privacy issues could occur<\/strong> if the information isn&#8217;t kept secure at the lab.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><u>What are the problems in implementing DNA based investigations in India?<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The\u00a0<strong>state police forces are yet to be trained<\/strong> in conducting such scientific investigations.<\/li>\n<li>There is also a <strong>serious scarcity of capacity for DNA<\/strong> fingerprinting in the country.<\/li>\n<li>Advanced practices in the technology are <strong>limited to the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD)<\/strong> in Hyderabad.<\/li>\n<li>There are also several private labs that offer DNA testing, but <strong>all work under an unregulated environment.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Though DNA testing is done in criminal cases in India, the <strong>instances were very low compared to other countries.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It <strong>breaches the Right to Privacy<\/strong>, personal information if leaked, could potentially complicate insurance processes, health care and job prospects for an individual.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><u>Way ahead:<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Government and police should <strong>increase the use of DNA testing in solving crimes<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>There should be <strong>adequate and high-level training sessions<\/strong> for DNA investigation.<\/li>\n<li>They should <strong>set up a board<\/strong> which will lay down procedures and standards.<\/li>\n<li>There are <strong>recommendations for amendments in Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and Indian Evidence Act, 1872<\/strong>, to include scientific investigation in crimes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Context: The law machinery world over is increasingly relying on DNA forensics to solve crime, whereas India is lagging behind in adoption. It is time to take a serious look at how this technology, that has become crucial in establishing both guilt and innocence. What is DNA? DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the hereditary material&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/dna-investigation-where-does-india-lags\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">DNA investigation: where does India lags?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":13242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-editorials","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/maxresdefault.jpg?fit=1001%2C532&ssl=1","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704926942},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}