: The Tripura High Court has ruled that unless the procedure is compromised, the accuracy of a DNA test result cannot be doubted. With this the court dismissed an appeal filed by a man convicted for 10 years rigorous life imprisonment (plus a Rs 1 lakh fine) for raping a minor girl.){kind=link}
New Delhi (ILNS): The Tripura High Court has ruled that unless the procedure is compromised, the accuracy of a DNA test result cannot be doubted. With this the court dismissed an appeal filed by a man convicted for 10 years rigorous life imprisonment (plus a Rs 1 lakh fine) for raping a minor girl.
The convict-petitioner, Bahadur Debbarma, had submitted that mere determination of parentage would not be sufficient to hold him guilty for rape. He emphasized on a decision of the Gujarat High Court in State of Gujarat vs Jayantibhai Somabhai Khant in which it was held that mere establishment of the identity of the father of the foetus in any case would not be sufficient to record conviction of the accused for rape. It was also contended that there had been no cross-examination of the doctor in respect of the process of DNA profiling nor its result has been questioned.
The prosecution rebutted the contentions of the petitioner and said that in the case of Gujarat High Court, the victim herself did not support the prosecution case. However, in this case the victim has categorically stated that she was raped by the appellant.
After hearing both sides the bench of Justices S. Talapatra and SG Chattopadhyay observed: “In Jayantibhai Somabhai Khant Gujarat High Court has expressed certain reservations even after observing that the DNA result can be of immense value to the investigators, prosecutors as well as to the court in either including or excluding a person from involving (sic) in a particular act. But as the victim did not support the prosecution case by stating that she was violated, the Gujarat High Court has observed that mere determination of parentage would not be sufficient to record conviction of the accused for rape. The said report has also clearly noted that they were not laying down any proposition that in every case the DNA result must be corroborated by independent evidence. The science of DNA profiling has been so perfected that unless the procedure is compromised, the accuracy of result cannot be doubted. When the DNA profiling is done properly it results are infallible.
“PW-12 (doctor) has stated about the process that he had followed for purpose of DNA extraction and its matching. Hence, there cannot be any doubt about the results which have been definitely recorded in the report. The result of the DNA test cannot be subsided as there had been no cross- examination or denial,” the court said.
Lastly, the court stated that the rehabilitation of the victim of rape is the state’s responsibility and thus issued a direction for compensation to the victim under Section 357A of the Cr.P.C. in terms of the Victim Compensation Scheme.
-ILNS