State to get DNA testing facility soon

BHUBANESWAR: Orissa will soon get its first DNA testing facility. An MoU with Hyderabad-based Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) was signed by the Institute of Life Sciences (ILS) here on Thursday. As part of the pact, CDFD will establish a laboratory on the ILS premises for DNA fingerprinting, examination and training and the latter will support and extend its infrastructure for the purpose. The lab is expected to be ready in six months and to begin with, will be able to handle 200 cases a year. The State Government and its agencies will refer cases related to sexual offences to the lab. Incriminating organic evidence collected from the crime scene, unidentified dead bodies and missing persons will be sent to the lab. The CDFD will provide DNA fingerprinting services for free for the cases referred by the State Government and its agencies. The lab will provide DNA fingerprinting services to law enforcement bodies and crime investigation agencies of the Government. Besides, statutory bodies such as Orissa Human Rights Commission and State Commission for Women will also get the services free of cost. In fact, the State Police stands to benefit the most from the DNA testing facility since no such lab existed in the State and all cases were to be sent to Central Forensic Science Laboratory in Kolkata. Since the pendency for such cases is huge, the outcome used to take long periods delaying the investigation and prosecution of cases. Apart from testing facilities, the MoU stresses promotion of use of DNA profiling and other scientific and forensic methods in the investigation and prosecution process. Both CDFD and ILS are autonomous bodies under the Department of Biotechnology under the Ministry of Science and Technology. The MoU was signed by Home Secretary UN Behera, CDFD Director Dr J Gowrishankar and Director, ILS, Bhubaneswar Dr B Ravindran.