Need of a DNA Lab for Bangladesh Police

by Razzak Raza
December 24, 2009

http://www.weeklyblitz.net/366/need-of-a-dna-lab-for-bangladesh-police

On 10 May/2009 some remnants of a human body was discovered by the local people of Batra village under Sonaimuri police station of Noakhali district. Police sub-inspector Mosharaf Hossain rushed to the place of occurrence ( PO ), took possession of the decomposed human body which included only the skull with some teeth, some ribs and bare bones of two hands. The other things found at the PO included an old lungi, an old white full sleeve shirt -- both of which were stained with blood and also a plastic-coated-paper bag of cement. The sub-inspector tried to discover the identity of the human body. But nobody could supply him with any reliable clues. However, a murder case was lodged to the police station upon the complaint of the police sub inspector. The investigation officer, sub inspector Tofael Ahammed, tried all the cards in his sleeve to identify the dead body without any success. However, he sent the sample of the remnant of the dead body to the Mizedi 250-bed general hospital to determine whether the skeleton was of a human being or not. For, to prove a murder it should be proved first that the body was of a human being.

Five months before, on 23 January/2009, one Shahidullah, son of Mafiz Ullah of Sonimuri village of the same police station disappeared. Mr. Mafiz Ullah, father of the victim, reported the incident to the Sonimuri police station on 25 January/2009 and the officer in charge noted this disappearance in an entry in the General Diary (GD no-993 dated 25/01/09). The skeleton of the unknown human being found in Batra village some five months after might have a relation with the disappeared person. The investigating officer showed the shirt, lungi found at the PO of the murder case to the relatives of Shahidullah. But, the relatives of disappeared Shahidullah confirmed that those garments did not belong to the victim. So, the disappearance of Shahidullah and the identity of the human skeleton remained a mystery to the police. Both the cases remained unsolved.

One day in August/2009, Senior Assistant Superintended of Police in charge of Begumganj Circle to which Sonimuri police station belongs to had been a short visit to the police station. Knowing the visit of the ASP to Sonaimuri police station, one old man with tears came to see him. He stated the disappearance incident of his son Shahidullah and alleged that the police did not care much to rescue his son alive or dead. He appealed to the ASP to do something so that he could know at least that his son is not alive.

The ASP took pity on the old man and began investigating the case himself. He found that the investigating officers of both the disappearance and murder case did a lot to find the whereabouts of Shahidullah as well as to discover the identity of the unknown human skeleton. The investigating officer of the murder case sent the remnant to the forensic laboratory only to determine whether those exhibits belong to a human body. For, the learning and present practice of the police investigator never allow to go the police sub inspectors further. But, the ASP had advance knowledge of science and technology. He remembered the worldwide utilization of DNA technology to identify dead bodies and crime suspects. He guided the investigating officer to conduct a DNA test of the remnants and the father of the disappeared Shahidullah with the National Forensic DNA Profiling Laboratory (NFDPL) of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH). With the approval of the learned Judicial Magistrate of Cognizable Court-3 of Noakhali the investigating officer brought Mr. Mafiz Ullah, the father of disappeared Shahidullah. The DNA experts took blood sample from Mafiz Ullah and compared it with the tooth sample of skeleton. The DNA experts after the detailed test concluded that:

The DNA profile originated from exhibit B (tooth said to be of deceased Shahidullah) is therefore biological offspring of Md. Mafiz Ullah and belongs to diseased Shahidullah. He can not be excluded as being the biological son of Md. Mafiz Ullah as he possesses all the genetic makers that should be inherited to a child by a biological father.

Thus the Sonaimuri Thana police solved the mystery of the unknown skeleton and the disappearance of Shahidullah. The family of Shahidullah finally became confirm that their son was abducted and was killed, and, the unknown human body discovered at Batra village was of Shahidullah.

However, the Sonaimuri than police is yet to identify the criminals connected t o the case of Shahidullah abduction and murder. The two criminal cases [case no- 07(05)/09 under section 302/201/34 and case no 03(08)/09 under section 364/34 both of Penal Code] are still under investigation.

The Shahidullah case was the first ever case where the Noakhali District police used the DNA technology. But this is not new in Bangladesh . The Jamal Uddin Abduction and Murder case of Chittagong got massive publicity. But it was a proved case at that time as the criminals themselves demanded the skeleton to be of Jamal Uddin. There were few other cases to determine the paternity of disputed children.

Although the DNA technology introduced in police investigation in 1986 in Britain , Bangladesh began to be familiar with it only very recently. The only DNA Lab, The National Forensic DNA Profiling Laboratory (NFDPL) was set up on 23 January/2006 at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH). It has five DNA screening laboratories across the country where samples are collected. But final opinion comes from the DMCH office. However, the intention of the DNA Lab was not to serve the whole police purpose. Danish aid agency Danida and Bangladesh government jointly set up the laboratory under the "Multisectoral Programme on Violence Against Women" project. Although it is serving the police demand, it is not sufficient to meet the growing demand of the police investigators.

However, newspapers published news items on the intention of the government to establish a separate DNA Lab for the police to facilitate the criminal investigation. It was known that the Ministry of Home Affairs is on the process to start a project to introduce a DNA Lab at the Detective Branch/Division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP). A grant of 25 crore taka is already sanctioned from the Japan Government. But some inner information reveals that the project is facing bureaucratic obstacles in the ministry. It is likely that Bangladesh is not going to see the second DNA Lab in near future.

The need of a DNA laboratory for Bangladesh Police is paramount. The DNA Lab will help the police investigators to prove the guilt of a suspect or exclude him/her from the charge of a criminal case. Examination of samples taken from the crime scene by the DNA Lab will determine whether a suspect had been present in the place of occurrence or not. The DNA testing will help the investigators solving crime problems even if there is no visible clue. Therefore, it will minimize the scope of the crook police officers to execute random arrest in a clueless criminal case. So, the DNA Lab will work as a shield against the misuse of police powers which will ultimately result in building positive image of the police as an investigating authority.

The DNA Lab will help increasing the conviction rate in criminal trials. In our judicial system burden of proof lies on the prosecution and any doubt of benefit favors the defendant. The DNA Lab will help the judges by providing with conclusive proof of the suspects' involvement in the offence which will minimize the doubt of the trying judges. It will minimize the error of judgment in a criminal case. Our criminal justice system largely depends on oral evidence. The DNA test will provide the judges with a conclusive proof of the suspect's involvement in the criminal occurrence. So, it will help to increase the capacity of the judiciary.

The DNA Lab will help identifying dead bodies and stolen properties. Our traditional methods of identifying the dead bodies includes taking photographs, finger prints and publish them in the news paper as well as in the CID gazettes. But these methods are faulty and superficial. If a dead body is decomposed or only a part of the body is found, traditional methods to identify it prove insufficient. DNA testing can accurately and conclusively identify the dead bodies even though a microscopic part of the body is found or, no matter how many years ago the occurrence would take place. Stolen property identification is also a problem to the police. DNA testing can help identifying stolen property, too. DNA can be used to make property and aid recovery from thieves

The DNA Lab will be a depository of criminal information. The DNA profiles of known criminals will be stored here digitally. So, any future criminal activities of the known criminals will match with the stored profiling. This will help police to reveal conclusively and quickly whether a criminal was the perpetrator of the subsequent criminal incidents or not. Thus it will help disposing off criminal cases quickly saving time, working hours, money and other resources of the government.

In civil cases the DNA testing result will help determining of paternity, chastity-etc. Thus the proposed DNA Lab will help he civil courts to dispose off thousands of pending cases where inheritance, paternity, chastity, etc. are the issues to decide.

The DNA Lab will establish a link among the international criminal police (Interpol). Bangladesh Police have already arrested few notorious Criminals active internationally. The extremists stay in disguise in different countries. DNA Lab will help to identify them quickly. The samples/results of DNA profiling stored in the database of other countries may easily be matched with the arrested ones by another. So, a DNA Lab owned by Bangladesh Police is essential to expose the international standard of the same.

Before the invention of DNA technology, the use of finger print supposed to be the most dominant means to relate a criminal to the occurrences. The expert reports on finger print are still considered conclusive to the court. But, "despite the great publicity they receive, fingerprint are rarely and important factor in solving crimes. A major part of the problem is that it is difficult to obtain useful prints. For example, New York City police are able to obtain a usable print in only 10 percent of all burglaries. Even when prints were obtained, only 3 percent led to an arrest.". On the other hand, the power of the DNA lies on the truth that with the exception of identical twins, no two people have the same DNA. Obtaining samples for DNA test is easier. DNA evidence can be collected from virtually anywhere. Only a few cells of blood, semen, skin, tissue, organs, muscle, brain, bone, teeth, hair, saliva, mucus, perspiration, fingernails, urine, feces, etc. are sufficient to obtain useful DNA information to prove a clueless long pending case. The other thing referable is that however old the samples may be, they are subject to analysis for yielding expected result.

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