Applying DNA formula to catch criminals

FE Team | Published: July 28, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Dipanwita Roy
It was a rainy afternoon when Nasima's fiancÃ©, Masud, had been at their Narayanganj residence when all but Nasima went to attend a weeding ceremony in the town.
They had a long chat in a closed room and Nasima could not resist when Masud made advances towards her and ultimately took her into bed. Since then, it has become a regular practice and Nasima become a mother.
"You know how embarrassing it is for a family when a girl becomes a mother before marriage. At first, I cared little about it, but I was deeply shocked when Masud refused to marry me and recognise the baby," says Nasrin Akhter Nasima, a cute girl of the port town.
Known as a desperate girl since her childhood, Nasima vowed to see Masud, son of a local influential man, in jail. So, she has made a difficult choice -- to fight it in the court. "But, it was not easy for me to prove that I was carrying Masud's baby.
One day Nasima gave birth to a baby girl and the trial in the case began.
After a marathon hearing of the case, the court passed an order for a DNA test, which ultimately proved that Masud is the father of the newborn baby, Snigdha, now two and a-half years old.
Such cases are common in Bangladesh, but most of them go unreported.
Rahima, a 24-year-old maidservant of Balaganj in Sylhet, got pregnant after her house owner, Haji Saimullah, raped her one day in absence of his family members.
When Saimullah's misdeed came out, his family members sided with him, beat up Rahima and forced her out of their house. She later gave birth to a baby girl.
As Rahima demanded maintenance for the baby from Saimullah, he threatened to kill her. Later, helpless Rahima filed a case with the local court and it ordered DNA test. And Saimullah proved to be father of the baby.
Nasima and Rahima are lucky. They got justice. But many poor girls and women are denied justice because they cannot afford to seek help from the newly introduced medical technology in Bangladesh and complexity in the country's justice delivery system.
A DNA test laboratory was set up at Dhaka Medical College Hospital in 2006 under multi-sectoral project of Women and Children Affairs Ministry. The national forensic DNA profiling laboratory went on full-swing operation at the medical college on January 23, 2006.
"A rapist can be detected easily through a DNA test without any doubt. The laboratory is being used mainly for women repression cases," says Dr Abul Hossain, Director of the multi-sectoral project.
DNA or Deoxyribonucleic Acid is a type of chemical that is found in the cells of animals. It carries genetic information and is a type of nucleic acid. It determines the shape and function of animals.
"DNA profiling is a process where an image of DNA has been made by separating the DNA from the cell. It can be easily ascertained any blood relation through DNA test," says Shafiqul Alam, Scientific Officer of the Forensic DNA Profiling Laboratory.
The process of identifying criminals through DNA test has begun in the developed countries long ago. The physical relation between former US President Bill Clinton and White House intern Monica Lewinsky was confirmed through DNA test.
"Setting up a DNA laboratory is an important step towards identifying criminals. It's an international standard laboratory. If samples can be preserved in proper way then any wanted criminal or person can be identified without any doubt after many years," says Prof Dr Sharif Akhteruzzaman of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Dhaka University and also the first Technical Advisor of National Forensic DNA Profiling Laboratory.
"In the past", Prof Akteruzzaman says, "criminals or rapists could not be detected for lack of strong evidences, but now it is possible to do through DNA tests."
"A rapist can be identified by testing samples of semen. Besides, many signs are found on the body of an affected woman. But these evidences have to be sent to laboratory within 72 hours of the incident. Special care is needed to preserve these samples," says Ferdouse Ahmed, scientific officer of the Laboratory.
Advocate Shaheen Akhter, vice-president of Bangladesh Mohila Samity, says DNA test has opened up a new era of success in preventing violence against women. Once it was difficult for any repressed woman to prove her allegation but now it is possible because of DNA test.
There are three sections in a DNA laboratory -- scanning lab, extraction lab and analysis lab. The work of scanning lab is to confirm the type of the sample while extraction lab separates DNA from the cell and the decision is taken at the analysis lab.
According to an official of Women and Children Affairs Ministry, the government has already decided to set up scanning labs at its all the medical college hospitals at the divisional-level to facilitate DNA tests, where only scanning of the samples will be conducted. Then it will be sent to Dhaka for the remaining test.
Experts say setting up of the DNA Laboratory is an epoch-making step for Bangladesh to hunt down criminals.
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