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8. Utilisation of DNA Fingerprinting and PCR Technology in Forensic Applications.

DNA fingerprinting has assumed great importance in the field of medico-legal investigations on account of the specificity and accuracy it provides in the identification of an individual. Since its discovery in 1985, DNA fingerprinting has been extensively used world over in numerous medico-legal cases involving disputes of paternity/maternity, rape cases, murder cases, bomb blast victims, war crime cases, victims of terrorist acts, etc. Through DNA fingerprinting, the matching between two samples can be achieved beyond any doubt. Hence, It helps in providing basic requirement of the judiciary i.e. the indisputable evidence especially in those cases where all the other conventional methods have failed.

The said project involved development of new DNA probes for use in DNA fingerprinting technology, the extension of DNA fingerprinting facility/technique to forensic science laboratories in Punjab and creation of awareness among different sections of society about applied value of this technique in medico-legal cases.

As a sequel to completion of the project, a one day seminar on DNA fingerprinting was organized for the benefit of general public, police and judiciary of State of Punjab on 20th April, 2002 at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.

Contact Person: Dr. J.K Arora, jkarora@pscst.com