The Bill aims to provide a legal framework for collecting, keeping, and testing human DNA samples, primarily for forensic purposes and to confirm a person’s identification in criminal cases. However, detractors claim that it may be abused to target social groups based on their political, religious, or caste affiliations.
The DNA Technology (Use & Application) Regulation Bill, 2019, was withdrawn by the Union government from the Lok Sabha on Monday, July 24.
The Bill, which was first put up in 2003, has undergone multiple revisions over the years under the direction of two the Department of Biotechnology & the Law Ministry.
It was presented in the Lok Sabha and then reported to the Parliamentary Standing Committee in 2019. Two years later, the panel’s findings were made public, highlighting the worries of several MPs who claimed that the Bill may be abused to target groups within society based on their political, religious, or social views.
The DNA Technology (Use & Application) Regulation Bill is what it sounds like.
As The Indian Express noted in 2019, the Bill aims to establish a legal framework for gathering, keeping, and testing human DNA samples, primarily for forensic purposes and to prove a person’s identity.
Numerous uses for DNA testing already exist, including parentage determination, criminal investigation, and the hunt for the missing. To prevent the misuse of DNA technology, the proposed law aims to establish a supervisory body to monitor these practices and to establish standards and rules.
The proposed legislation calls for the creation of two institutional entities at the federal level: a DNA regulatory board and a DNA data bank. The board’s regional centers and the data bank may be established at the state level as well.
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The data bank would be the repository for all DNA samples obtained from different people following the regulations, while the board—which is suggested to be the primary regulatory authority—would set the rules and norms for DNA collection, testing, and storage. According to the proposed legislation, only labs that have been granted permission by the regulatory body may test DNA samples.
Additionally, it outlines the conditions under which a person may be requested to provide DNA samples, the reasons for such requests, and the precise steps for handling, storing, and accessing these samples.
What are the Bill’s critics’ complaints?
The three primary points of contention around the proposed law are whether DNA technology is impenetrable, whether the rules appropriately handle the potential for misuse of the information, and if an individual’s privacy is protected.
Information gleaned from DNA can be quite illuminating. It can be used to confirm someone’s identification as well as reveal many of their physical and biological characteristics, such as their eye, hair, and skin colors, illness susceptibility, potential medical history, and probable hints about their biological relatives. For years, opponents of the Bill have argued that gathering and keeping such invasive data could result in abuse in addition to being a violation of a person’s privacy.
“The Committee is aware that this Bill is very technical, complex, and sensitive,” the Standing Committee’s 2021 report stated. Several Members have voiced worry over the potential misuse of the technology to target certain groups in our society based on things like political beliefs, caste, or religion. These anxieties must be acknowledged and handled since they are not wholly unwarranted.
What have the authorities said?
The administration has defended the Bill by claiming that comparable laws have been passed in nearly 60 nations and that all significant issues about privacy, secrecy, and data protection have been taken into consideration.
It has been stated that only 17 sets of numbers, out of the billions that DNA samples can provide, are suggested to be saved in the indexes, which is relatively little information. These merely serve as a unique identification and cannot reveal anything about the person, according to the statement.
