The 13 explosions in Mumbai on March 12, 1993 had killed at least 257 and injured nearly 713 persons. (Express Archives) The 13 explosions in Mumbai on March 12, 1993 had killed at least 257 and injured nearly 713 persons. (Express Archives)

Speaking at a seminar to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1993 bomb blasts in the city, Justice P D Kode, former judge of the Bombay High Court, said, “DNA (evidence) is a part of forensic science and very helpful in the modern times. First, it is used to check whether the line of investigation is correct or not. Second, the evidence assembled can help establish complicity of the accused. RDX was detected by the police in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts, and helped them reach the culprits.”

Justice Kode, who had, prior to his elevation to the Bombay High Court, presided over the country’s longest trial of 123 accused in the 1993 bomb blasts in which 100 accused, including Yakub Memon and actor Sanjay Dutt, were convicted and 23 were acquitted.

The 13 explosions in Mumbai on March 12, 1993 had killed at least 257 and injured nearly 713 persons. Pointing out the importance that DNA analysis played in proving evidence against the accused, Justice Kode said that DNA evidence is not only useful in criminal cases, but also in civil cases in establishing fertility and consequential rights of a party.

Addressing the seminar, Tim Schellberg, president of Gordon Thomas Honeywell-Governmental Affairs, a Washington DC-based consultancy, said, “India successfully develops DNA profiles on less than 10,000 cases annually which is less than profiles developed by smaller countries like UK and Thailand.”

Shirish Inamdar, a former intelligence officer, said, “Infrastructure in this sphere (DNA gathering) is lagging and the ignorance of personnel carrying out such procedures is appalling.” He also expressed apprehensions regarding a centralized database, which may cause a threat to privacy of citizens.

Dr Harish Pathak, a forensics expert, said, “85 per cent of the DNA collections don’t yield results. Training and sensitization programmes should be carried out and a standard operating protocol should be laid out for DNA collection.

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