Sindh’s first forensic lab to start functioning by July

The first-ever forensic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and serology analysis laboratory of Sindh will start functioning by July to help the law enforcement agencies in detection and identification of DNA and human biological fluids from the crime scene.

Prof Dr Iqbal Chaudhry, director of the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi, stated this while talking to The News on Monday. “Sindh’s first-ever forensic DNA and serology analysis lab will start functioning by July, and following the functioning of the lab, there will be no need to send samples to a forensic lab in Punjab.”

The provincial government on December 18, 2018 provided Rs220 million to the Dr Panjwani Centre for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research (PCMD), a constituent institute of the ICCBS, for the establishment of the lab, including the renovation of the building, purchase of reagents and equipment and hiring of trained and qualified staff.

The director said the remaining Rs40 million funds were yet to be released by the government. He said that following the establishment and functioning of the lab, forensic experts would collect minute samples of biological materials from the crime scenes, graves, charred bodies and piles of unidentified bodies to match the samples with the suspected criminals and to help the authorities in identifying unclaimed bodies.

He said experts from the lab would be able to detect, identify, classify and study body fluids, including blood, semen, saliva, urine, vomit, fecal matter and perspiration. Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed, director of the project, told The News that soon after the provision of funds from the provincial government they had adopted a three-dimensional approach by purchasing equipment and reagents, hiring staff and renovation of the building at the same time so that the facility could be made functional within the shortest possible time.

“At the moment, we have completed the hiring process while the training of staff members is underway. The equipment will be delivered to us within three to four months, and we will be able to start operating the lab by July.”

Dr Ahmed said that former forensic scientist of the Punjab Forensic Science Agency, Dr Numan Rasool, had also joined us to train young scientists on forensic analysis of DNA and different types of body fluids.

Dr Rasool said they were striving to establish the state-of-the-art forensic lab at the ICCBS, adding that the lab would help the authorities and investigators in resolving difficult crime cases.

In response to a query, he said DNA was not accepted as primary evidence in our criminal justice system due to lack of required legislation, but with the establishment of the crime lab, amendments would be made in the law to accept the DNA test result as a credible evidence just like in other countries in the world.

The forensic scientist, while talking about Zainab’s rape and murder case, a six-year-old girl who was raped before being murdered in Kasur, said that DNA helped in identifying the killer of the minor girl.

“DNA sampling helped the authorities in identifying her killer from the DNA profiles of over 1,000 men, and the culprit’s DNA sample matched samples obtained from the crime scene.”