DNA evidence crucial in rape

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderabad/dna-evidence-crucial-rape-550

August 18th, 2009


By Our Correspondent
 
Hyderabad




Aug. 17: DNA fingerprinting was now being used widely to convict multiple accused in gang rape cases, said the former director of CCMB, Dr Lalji Singh.

He was inaugurating a national level work shop on “DNA — the decisive evidence” in the Andhra Pradesh Police Academy (APPA) near Himayat Sagar here on Monday.

The three-day workshop is being jointly organised with Bio Axis DNA Research Centre in Hyderabad.

Additional DGP and director of APPA, Dr C.N. Gopinatha Reddy, and IGP and additional director of APPA, Mr Rajiv Trivedi, also attended the workshop.

Dr Reddy said DNA sometimes provides clinching evidence in bringing a culprit to book and lauded the efforts of Dr Singh in framing a blueprint to help DNA fingerprinting to be made substantive evidence in court. Dr Singh said the AP Police was ahead of others in using science in crime investigation.

In his presentation, he pointed out that DNA fingerprinting was being used to identify paternity, maternity, wildlife conservation, patenting plants and to establish pedigree of horses and dogs of special breeds.

In crime investigation, it was being used in assassination, rape and murder cases, he said.

Dr Singh pointed out that DNA evidence was crucial in achieving breakthroughs in crime investigations which included the tandoor murder case, and the murder cases in which Swami Shradhananda and Swami Premananda were convicted.

APPA trainees, academicians, scholars and bio-science students from all over the country attended the workshop.