[This procedure detailed in the draft Bill due to be introduced in the current session of Parliament involves collection of "intimate body samples" of living persons from "the genital or anal area, the buttocks and also breasts in the case of a female". Intimate forensic procedure includes "external examination" of private parts, taking samples from there "of pubic hair" or "by swab or washing" or "by vacuum suction, by scraping or by lifting by tape" and "taking of a photograph or video recording of, or an impression or cast of a wound" in those areas. ... It (i.e. the draft bill) also makes clear that intimate forensic procedure will be applied not just to an "offender" who is defined as "a person who has been convicted of or an undertrial charged with a specified offence". The DNA data bank will also be authorized to collect samples from anybody who is deemed to be "suspect" in relation to any crime. The range of persons on who the data bank will maintain "indices" includes those connected with "crime scene" and those with "missing persons". What is even more open-ended is the clause empowering the data bank to maintain an index on "volunteers" and "such other DNA indices as may be specified by regulations" issued after the enactment of the law. Equally significant is the clause stating that the samples collected in relation to DNA profiling "shall be made available" not only in criminal cases but also "civil matters" such as disputes relating to paternity or maternity, surrogacy, organ donation, immigration, emigration and individual identity. Listed among these routine civil matters is, shockingly, "issues relating to pedigree". The draft Bill does not however explain anywhere why exactly human DNA profiling will be applied to determine pedigree. ... Despite its far-reaching consequences for privacy, the draft Bill has not been placed in the public domain for pre-legislative consultation. Since it is slated to be introduced in the ongoing session of Parliament, representatives of civil society may now get a chance to express their views if and only when the Bill is referred to a standing committee.
(Excerpted from, and highlighted in, the report at sl. no. I below.) In the works since 2007, the Bill is now being pushed by none other PM Narendra Modi, who’s keen to see it off the ground as a powerful technology for establishing identity in criminal or civil proceedings and for other specified purposes.The use of Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid( DNA) test for human profiling has triggered a debate. Particularly, after Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi expressed the view before the Supreme Court that the Right to Privacy is no fundamental right for Indian citizens. This he said in defence of the Aadhar identification card. (Excerpted from, and highlighted in, the report at sl. no. II below.)] I/II. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/DNA-profiling-bill-allows-for-intimate-samples/articleshow/48220717.cms DNA profiling bill allows for 'intimate' samples Manoj Mitta,TNN | Jul 26, 2015, 02.32 AM IST The human DNA profiling Bill, as recommended by an official expert committee, has controversial clauses dealing with "issues relating to pedigree" and introducing an intrusive mode of collecting samples from living persons called "intimate forensic procedure". NEW DELHI: The human DNA profiling Bill, as recommended by an official expert committee, has controversial clauses dealing with "issues relating to pedigree" and introducing an intrusive mode of collecting samples from living persons called "intimate forensic procedure". ***This procedure detailed in the draft Bill due to be introduced in the current session of Parliament involves collection of "intimate body samples" of living persons from "the genital or anal area, the buttocks and also breasts in the case of a female".*** [Emphasis added.] ***Intimate forensic procedure includes "external examination" of private parts, taking samples from there "of pubic hair" or "by swab or washing" or "by vacuum suction, by scraping or by lifting by tape" and "taking of a photograph or video recording of, or an impression or cast of a wound" in those areas.*** [Emphasis added.] Submitted in January by the committee headed by T S Rao, senior adviser to the department of biotechnology, the draft Bill explains that "intimate body samples from living persons shall be collected and intimate forensic procedures shall be performed by a registered medical practitioner". ***It also makes clear that intimate forensic procedure will be applied not just to an "offender" who is defined as "a person who has been convicted of or an undertrial charged with a specified offence". The DNA data bank will also be authorized to collect samples from anybody who is deemed to be "suspect" in relation to any crime. The range of persons on who the data bank will maintain "indices" includes those connected with "crime scene" and those with "missing persons". What is even more open-ended is the clause empowering the data bank to maintain an index on "volunteers" and "such other DNA indices as may be specified by regulations" issued after the enactment of the law.*** [Emphasis added.] READ ALSO: Centre to create DNA bank of unidentified bodies DNA profiling for armed forces by 2020 ***Equally significant is the clause stating that the samples collected in relation to DNA profiling "shall be made available" not only in criminal cases but also "civil matters" such as disputes relating to paternity or maternity, surrogacy, organ donation, immigration, emigration and individual identity. Listed among these routine civil matters is, shockingly, "issues relating to pedigree". The draft Bill does not however explain anywhere why exactly human DNA profiling will be applied to determine pedigree.*** [Emphasis added.] Apart from the bald reference to pedigree issues, the draft Bill says that the information related to DNA profile shall be made available "for creation and maintenance of a population statistics Data Bank that is to be used, as prescribed, for the purposes of identification research, protocol development or quality control provided that it does not contain any personally identifiable information and does not violate ethical norms". The clause relating to pedigree may be connected to an existing practice of linking caste to the DNA sample. The identification form issued by the Hyderabad-based Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), the premier national institute, contains a column requiring the person giving a blood sample to mention the caste. This prompted one of the members of the expert panel, Usha Ramanathan, to say the column resurrected the discredited idea of "genes of criminality". Ramanathan struck a note of dissent even on the application of DNA profiling to the so-called issues relating to pedigree. She wrote: "Biological determinism ought not to displace environmental and sociological understanding." On intimate forensic procedure, Ramanathan stressed the need "to question" whether it could be avoided for living persons if "a sample of adequate quality" could be obtained through less intrusive means. Such concerns have evidently been overruled by the majority in the expert committee, which included the director of CDFD, J Gowrishankar. For, rather than coming out with a report along with dissent notes, the committee simply submitted the minutes of the four meetings that had been held by it. ***Despite its far-reaching consequences for privacy, the draft Bill has not been placed in the public domain for pre-legislative consultation. Since it is slated to be introduced in the ongoing session of Parliament, representatives of civil society may now get a chance to express their views if and only when the Bill is referred to a standing committee.*** [Emphasis added.] II. http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/Human-DNA-Profiling-Bill-Waiting-in-the-Wings/2015/07/26/article2940826.ece Human DNA Profiling Bill Waiting in the Wings By Santwana Bhattacharya Published: 26th July 2015 04:59 AM Last Updated: 26th July 2015 04:59 AM NEW DELHI: ‘Political DNA’ analysis may come in handy in the electoral fray, but for solving a case and picking up clues from the scene of a crime, a Human DNA Profiling Bill is on the agenda. Or to be precise, ready for introduction this Monsoon session of Parliament, but for the Opposition disruptions. ***In the works since 2007, the Bill is now being pushed by none other PM Narendra Modi, who’s keen to see it off the ground as a powerful technology for establishing identity in criminal or civil proceedings and for other specified purposes.The use of Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid( DNA) test for human profiling has triggered a debate. Particularly, after Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi expressed the view before the Supreme Court that the Right to Privacy is no fundamental right for Indian citizens. This he said in defence of the Aadhar identification card.*** [Emphasis added.] Along with the mandatory biometric provision of the Aadhaar card, which is basically fingerprint profiling and neat cataloguing of population, its properties and income through a unique ID number, the DNA profiling would go a long way in further marking the population. The declared goal of the two is different, though. While Aadhaar devised ostensibly to provide targeted social subsidy, the objective of Human DNA Profiling Bill is to assist criminal/civil proceedings. The Human DNA Profiling Bill, 2015, draft admits that the “DNA analysis offers sensitive information which, if misused can cause harm to person or society. Hence the “need to regulate the use through an Act passed by Parliament only for lawful purposes”. The Bill also proposes a “National DNA Databank with policies of use and access to information’’, its “retention and deletion’’. The Bank will have a manager--an expert in the field--to execute and maintain the system that the Bill seeks to set up. There will be a DNA Profiling Board of eminent scientists, administrators and law enforcement officers to administer and carry out the functions assigned to it under the Act. The proposed law, which is ready for introduction as confirmed by the Science & Technology Ministry, is in keeping with the objectives of creating a Databank and administration board. The Bill lays down a regulatory framework and standards for laboratories, collection of human body substance, custody trail from collection to reporting and also the monitoring of the Databank. However, some experts have doubts about the effectiveness of human DNA profiling as a method of cracking criminal and civil cases or of maintaining a Databank for criminal profiling. They feel, DNA profiling is in a way a technological extension of the colonial project of population profiling, that led to proscribing of certain ancient Indian tribes as “criminal’’ or “criminally prone’’. Also, the declared objective in the draft Bill, a copy of which is with Express, that the data could be used for “other purposes’’ has generated a sense of apprehension as what it could be. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
