Establishment of Forensic DNA Technology in India: Progress and Future Prospects

The application of DNA technology in legal forensic examinations was a pivotal point in the history of the legal justice system. It has helped law enforcement agencies worldwide solve cases such as rape, murder, terrorism and mass disasters. Commonly known as DNA fingerprinting or DNA profiling, this technology is used to identify individuals and establish relationships by analysing certain segments of DNA and their inheritance patterns. India was an early adopter of forensic DNA testing, which has now become an integral part of the judicial process across the country. Despite the continued success of DNA technology, laboratories across India are struggling to reach the global standards of DNA examination and have an overwhelming backlog of cases. This article reviews the development of human identification forensic DNA technologies and their adoption in India. Future prospects and challenges for the technology have also been elaborated, including a discussion on the recently introduced legal reforms assimilating modern forensic examination in the judicial process.