A Bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia said it cannot give any direction but would ask the government to consider issuing circular to state governments in this regard.
“You file an affidavit whether a circular can be issued to state governments for asking magistrates to order DNA profiling of unidentified bodies,” the Bench said while asking Additional Solicitor General P P Malhotra to inform it on this within four weeks.
The court was hearing a petition filed in 2009 seeking a direction to the government for making DNA profiling of unidentified bodies mandatory.
A PIL filed by a Haryana-based doctor Shamsher Malik pointed out that over 37,000 people die without their identity ever being found out and the methods and procedures adopted for their identification becomes a futile exercise, leaving their kin in darkness about them.
The court had issued a notice on November 16, 2009 to the Centre after Malik’s counsel had argued that DNA profiling is the best available technique to reach the family members in case of unidentified bodies.
The petitioner had said the DNA profiling technique can be used in cases of identification of an individual with the help of previously preserved sample of material evidence or by matching the profile with close relatives.
“It can be used in identification of criminals from the biological material evidence at the site of crime. It has been used with certainty in cases of disputed maternity/paternity. But this technique can be of grand success with regard to identification of unidentified bodies by matching the profiles with close relatives,” the petition said.
While submitting that reasons behind identifying unidentified bodies are numerous which involve humanitarian, social and judicial elements, the Hissar-based doctor had provided the data for three years received from National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) to buttress the need for DNA profiling.
He said that in the years 2005, 2006 and 2007, there were 39,157, 36,131 and 37,282 unidentified dead bodies respectively.
The petitioner, who also provided such data received by him through RTI application from Delhi Police, said there are 14 functional laboratories in the country, including the one in AIIMS, which have all the facilities for DNA profiling.