India able to conduct 3k-odd DNA tests against need for 4 L tests per year: Experts

India needs to conduct over 4 lakh DNA tests annually to solve various crimes but manages to take up only around 3,000 of them due to lack of infrastructure, a forensic scientist said Thursday.

DNA testing facilities for solving various crimes are available only in 20 of the total 31 central and state forensic laboratories and that is why only 3,000-odd tests are held in the country annually, said Dr VK Kashyap, former chief scientist at New Delhi-based Directorate of Forensic Science Services.

"There is an urgent need to create sufficient infrastructure, open more laboratories and recruit more experts to conduct the requisite number of DNA tests every year for solving various types of crimes, including the heinous ones," Kashyap told PTI.

Kashyap was here to attend a training workshop for the Himachal Pradesh police officials at the state police headquarter. The workshop was organised to educate the sleuths about the protocols to collect DNA samples from crime scenes and preserve them.

The country witnesses around 2.5 lakh murders and 75,000 rapes annually while about one lakh children and women go missing every year, he said, adding DNA tests in such cases would greatly help in solving them.

They would also help in establishing the identity of the numerous mutilated bodies found every year, he added.

India conducted the first DNA test to solve a crime in 1989, he said, adding that it urgently requires now to set up national and regional DNA database of criminals to solve various types of crimes expeditiously across the country.

Kashyap hoped the requisite law for this purpose would soon be enacted in the country.

A bill aimed at providing for regulation to use the DNA technology is presently pending in the Lok Sabha.

The DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2018 was introduced in Lok Sabha by Minister for Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan on August 9, he said.

The Bill among other things, provides for the establishment of a National DNA data bank and regional data banks, for every state, or two or more states.

The workshop was also attended by Himachal's Forensic Science Laboratory Director Arun Sharma, who said the state will soon have DNA testing facilities at its regional forensic laboratories in Dharamshala and Mandi.

Two forensic experts have already been appointed at these laboratories, which are being upgraded for the purpose, Dr Sharma said.

The first DNA test in Himachal Pradesh was conducted in 2008, he said, adding its Shimla lab gets 30 to 35 cases for DNA tests every month, but only 20 to 25 of them are undertaken for tests presently due to lack of infrastructure and experts.

About 900 DNA tests are pending with the state lab, he said.

Assistant Director Vivek Sahajpal of the state's forensic science laboratory said the DNA tests played an important role in conviction of three accused in the infamous Yug murder case and establishing the identity in a child swapping case at KNH hospital here last year.

Had a database of criminals been maintained, the infamous Gudia case might have been solved without much delay as the accused had conducted many heinous crimes in Shimla and Sirmaur in 2008 too, he said.