DNA testing cannot be done without consent

The Dhaka Times Desk The National Parliament has passed the 'Deoxy Ribonucleic Acid (DNA) Bill-2014'. It states that DNA testing cannot be done without consent. If he does, he will face jail and fine.

The bill passed by the Parliament states that if any person or organization tests or stores DNA without the approval of the government, they will be jailed for up to 5 years and fined Tk 3 lakh. Keeping such a provision, 'Deoxy Ribonucleic Acid (DNA) Bill-2014' has been passed in Parliament.

The bill was passed by voice vote after State Minister for Women and Child Affairs Meher Afroz tabled it in the National Assembly on Wednesday. However, the public opinion verification and amendments were rejected by voice vote.

It is known that on September 2 last year, the bill was approved by the Cabinet to legislate for DNA testing and preservation for purposes such as identifying criminals, determining paternity or identifying dead bodies. The bill proposes setting up of forensic DNA laboratories and establishing a national database. It has been proposed to form an 18-member Forensic DNA Laboratory Advisory Council with the Minister of State for Women and Child Affairs as its chairman. It has also been said to have eminent citizens of the country including various ministries, police, experts in the advisory council.

According to the bill, the police can go to court if anyone refuses to collect DNA samples for the purpose of investigation. However, no DNA sample can be collected from a person without the presence of at least 2 witnesses and in the manner prescribed by the rules.

In that act, the DNA sample is destroyed, altered, adulterated or faked, if the DNA sample is not collected due to someone's negligence or if the sample is destroyed, there are provisions of punishment for different periods.

It also proposed to establish four indexes in the national DNA database. These are: Crime Scene Index, Convicted Offender Index, Unidentified Persons Index and any other index prescribed by the Government. Provisions for sharing information with international organizations are also proposed in that bill.

It should be noted that Rebecca Momin, president of the Standing Committee on Ministry of Women and Child Affairs, presented the report of this bill on Monday. The committee finalized the report of the bill on August 24.