3 weeks ago
Court Orders Review of Five Years of Forensic DNA Reports
A court in the city of Jabalpur, India, helps oversee the laws in the state of Madhya Pradesh.
A person accused of a crime told the court that a DNA report used against them was wrong.
The scientist in charge of the laboratory said a mistake might have happened because of a copy-paste error on a computer.
The judges said that if copy-paste can put the wrong name in a report, it can also put the wrong numbers.
So they decided they cannot fully trust the DNA reports made by the state's laboratories.
The judges asked the government's top officer to create a special team of scientists.
The team must be made up of scientists from other states, not from Madhya Pradesh, so the review is fair.
The team will check all forensic reports from the last five years.
They will check one out of every five slide samples to see if the reports are correct.
The checking must be finished within six months.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court's Jabalpur principal seat directed the chief secretary to constitute an independent committee to review forensic reports from the last five years.
The committee will comprise three senior scientific officers from Forensic Science Laboratories outside Madhya Pradesh, with no two members from the same state.
The court questioned the credibility of DNA reports after State Forensic Science Laboratory in-charge director Dr. Harsha Singh attributed an error to a cut-and-paste mistake.
The court ordered that slides used to prepare the reports be made available so the committee can cross-check their correctness, with 20% sample checking to be done within six months.
The chief secretary must form the committee within seven days, and Dr. Harsha Singh was directed to file a proper affidavit in the case.
- Who
- A division bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court comprising Justice Vivek Agarwal and Justice Vivek Jain, along with Dr. Harsha Singh, in-charge director of the State Forensic Science Laboratory.
- What
- The court ordered an independent committee of outside scientists to review the correctness and veracity of all forensic and DNA reports placed before courts in the last five years.
- Where
- Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India, at the principal seat of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
- When
- Directions were issued on Thursday; the committee must be formed within seven days and 20% sample checking completed within six months.
- Why
- Doubts over the credibility of DNA reports arose after the laboratory's explanation that an error was due to a cut-and-paste mistake.
Court's Stance
Laboratory's Stance
Explanation for the error in the forensic report
Court's Stance
If a cut-and-paste mistake can change a name, it could equally change DNA-matching numerals, meaning there is no credibility to the DNA reports conducted by the state's Forensic Science Laboratories.
Laboratory's Stance
The error may have occurred due to a cut-and-paste mistake, so only the wrong name was mentioned in the report in question.
Key facts
- Court
- Madhya Pradesh High Court (Jabalpur principal seat)
- Bench
- Justice Vivek Agarwal and Justice Vivek Jain
- Review scope
- All forensic reports placed before courts in Madhya Pradesh in the last five years
- Review committee
- Three senior scientific officers from Forensic Science Laboratories outside Madhya Pradesh
- Committee rule
- No two scientific officers from the same state
- Sample checking
- 20% of slides cross-checked against reports
- Deadlines
- Committee within 7 days; sample checking within 6 months
- Trigger
- Suspect's petition challenging a forensic report; alleged cut-and-paste error
Quotes
Jabalpur High Court
court order by Jabalpur High Court
“Thus, there is an acceptance that there is no credibility to the DNA reports conducted by the Forensic Science Laboratories in the State of Madhya Pradesh.”
freepressjournal.in
“If this explanation is to be accepted, then the cut-and-paste error can also be in regard to the numerals pertaining to the matching of DNA chromosomes.”
freepressjournal.in
Sources
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