The government has initiated a draft law to set up an entire directorate dedicated to the formation of a national DNA database that will help detect crimes such as rapes and murders.
State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Meher Afroz mentioned this to the House yesterday while defending the DNA bill 2014.
In many cases, criminals go unpunished because of the cumbersome nature of investigations. The idea behind the bill is that the DNA test results will be accepted at the court.
The parliamentary standing committee on women and children affairs ministry was asked to scrutinise the draft law and refer back to the legislature in one month.
The bill, if passed, will set up the Directorate of DNA Laboratory Management, headed by a director general. According to the draft law, the existing National Forensic DNA Profiling Laboratory will be considered a laboratory under the government.
Besides, any dispute relating to the determination of relations between persons can be detected by DNA profiling.
Police or the assigned investigation agencies can collect DNA samples from the suspects in line with guidelines written in the prescribed forms. Anyone declining to give samples for DNA profiling in three hours will be considered reluctant to give samples.
In case of denials, police must turn to the court to order the collection of the DNA samples from the suspects after hearing both sides.
Carrying out DNA tests without authorisation is an offence, says the proposed law stipulating a maximum five years and minimum three years of imprisonment or a fine of Tk3 lakh or both.
Every director, manager, secretary, partner, official and staff will be deemed to have committed crime if any company has direct involvement with the offences. They can get immunity from the charges if they can prove that the crimes were committed without their knowledge or they tried their best to stop the offence.
