Gurgaon gets its first DNA forensic lab

The building blocks of life are as unique as they are universal in all things living. Our DNA makeup is what sets us apart, and can be used to create a map of our characteristics and traits like none other. This was why when the technology of DNA profiling for forensic investigation was first introduced in the 1980s, it was hailed as revolutionary, and made fingerprinting almost obsolete. And the advance made back then remains unparalleled even today. But in India, a lot still needs to be done in the field of DNA forensics.

"There are only around 28-30 DNA forensic labs in India. While China has 300 or so such labs. So clearly there is room for more capacity and forensic capability here," said Devashish Ohri, managing director, South Asia, Life Technologies, a global biotechnology firm, which inaugurated the first privately-run DNA forensics lab of the country in Gurgaon on Tuesday. The new lab, according to the company representatives, will help 'reduce the burden of existing forensic system and address the requirements of DNA database creation for unidentified dead bodies and crime investigations.' Besides this, the facility will act as a much-needed training platform for the forensic sector.

"We will be organizing workshops, interactive camps, and will be partnering with various universities," Ohri said. He said that his team has previously helped set up government forensic labs in the country, and that further collaboration with the state is to be expected. At the moment, the new lab is getting plenty of 'civil cases' that require DNA profiling, like parental testing. "The goal, apart from continuing what we are already doing, would be to engage the government and police more, to help reduce their forensic load," Ohri said. But not many criminal cases are likely to come this way unless there is a 'some change in the government SOP.'

"With the criminal forensic cases, according to the present norm, if we do the sampling, we have to go to the court, which is a kind of bottleneck. But crime cases are only a fraction of what the state forensic labs get," he added. This is the first such foray of the private sector in the field forensics, and those behind the move say that it aside from serving a crucial capacity-building purpose, a privately-run DNA forensic lab also makes perfect business sense.  "The forensic labs of India have been using Life Technologies' reagents and instruments for more than 15 years. I am sure that this lab would bring more efficiency and improve the available forensic capabilities," said Dr J R Gaur, a former director of the State Forensic Science Laboratory, who is now the principal scientific officer at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.