CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu has become the first State in the country to get its own ‘forensic DNA profile search tool’, developed by the State Forensic Sciences Department. On Saturday, Chief Minister MK Stalin launched the facility and handed it over to the state police chief.
The tool will come in handy for gathering profiles of victims of human trafficking; identifying missing children; tracking criminals from other States, unidentified bodies, profiles of history-sheeters, and people who die in natural disasters.
“The forensic DNA profile search tool can also be used to solve rape cases, sexual assaults, and murders. Fingerprints from crime scenes, small particles found on victims of sexual assault and murders, can all be traced to the criminals,” said a senior police officer who has worked with the Forensics department.
The officer said the present system in place in the department takes time to identify and isolate DNA of required samples. The new search tool, with its advanced quantification kits, however will be able to deliver accurate results in less time, even for the most challenging casework samples, he added.
“By collecting DNA profiles of history-sheeters and former convicts, the search tool can provide us with a more accurate match; especially in the case of degraded samples that may not provide a full profile,” said the officer.
Another officer from the CB-CID wing said cases involving multiple offenders can take time as there would be overlapping layers of evidence that would be misleading. “However, with the new search tool, the time to separate the fingerprints or other samples from the evidence can be reduced drastically, and the results will have more precision,” said the officer.
DNA is one of the 14 wings of the State Forensic Sciences Department. The press release from the Secretariat said several countries already have such tools which help them effectively crack down on criminal offences.