Webinar on DNA fingerprinting and its contribution towards serving justice to society

Chandigarh, March 24, 2022: The Institute of Forensic Science and Criminology, Panjab University, Chandigarh organized a special lecture in the ongoing International webinar lecture series on ‘‘DNA fingerprinting- Forensic and medico-legal perspective’’. The Chairperson, Dr. Vishal Sharma hosted the webinar and shared the significance behind organizing lecture over the mentioned topic. He said that according to the NCRB report, the registration of cases under IPC has increased by 31.9% while cases under Special and Local Laws (SLL) has surged by 21.6% maximum of which are related to crime against women which needs to be addressed using new methods.  He added that the use of DNA fingerprinting has become popular over the years solving many cases including the 1999 New York case, 2001 Green River case solved globally and Priyadarshini Mattoo, Rajiv Gandhi case solved Nationally.  He highlighted the importance of how scientific technologies have reached to the society in delivering justice and knowing about the ancestral lineage.

The distinguished Chief Guest Prof. R.C. Sobti, Former VC, P.U. Chandigarh and BBAU, Lukhnow praised the chairperson for organizing such informative lecture series. In his inaugural address, Prof. Sobti stated that the use of forensic science has become crucial in every aspect keeping in view of the current surge in crimes happening every other day. According to him, DNA fingerprinting is considered as the outcome of molecular biology technique and it is not only limited to forensic science but has expanded its horizons to various other fields including medico-legal, bioterrorism, etc. He said that DNA is a very important invention which helps the legal experts to solve many such crimes which were not possible to solve before as no evidence were present.
The Keynote speaker of the webinar, Dr. Kumarswamy Thangaraj, Director, centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad began his lecture by enlightening the audience with the history of fingerprint as well as the emergence of DNA fingerprinting. He mentioned that often the technique of genetic fingerprinting is associated with forensics or paternity testing, the first case that was solved using the DNA profiling technique invented by Alec Jeffreys and his team at the University of Leicester involved an immigration dispute. He even shared various interesting facts like; DNA does not change with age, it is only in case of cancer patients that DNA profile varies between different tissues. He explained the importance of RFLP technique. He also shared the significance of DNA fingerprinting technique in medico-legal and archaeological aspects wherein the ancestory could be traced. He has shown that this technique also shown that the Andaman tribe came from Africa way back 6000 years ago. The entire lecture proved to be very informative as it welcomed the queries of young minds from various departments and institutions across the country.
More than 100 delegates participated in the webinar including Scientist from forensic labs, faculty and students, research scholars from various Universities. Dr. Vishal Sharma, Convener of the webinar said that many more such lecture series have been scheduled in the coming days at Panjab University to train the forensic science students and aware the general public about the potentiality of Forensic Science and scientific techniques in solving crimes and helping the society at large.