DNA testing gaining trust in Nepal despite notable failures

As is happening with the country’s other vital organizations, Nepal Police have also been in a constant quest to modernize themselves. The organization passed a significant milestone in this journey when they imported a DNA testing machine in 2014. DNA testing has since been handy, often playing a decisive role in either establishing guilt or clearing suspects in multiple criminal cases.

Nepal Police had its first success with DNA testing in a 1996 rape case against Rakesh Kumar Singh, an assistant sub-inspector of police (ASI). On June 8 that year, one Himali Gole of Dolakha district had charged Singh with raping her. Singh denied the charge. But a DNA test showed that the semen found in Gole’s petticoat came from ASI Singh. That helped the district court establish Singh’s guilt and to sentence him. The decision was later upheld by the Appellate Court where Singh had appealed. Another test that was performed upon the appeal also went against the accused.

Singh then went to the Supreme Court, which too upheld the lower courts’ decisions. It, however, mentioned the victim’s testimony and other circumstantial evidence as its basis for the verdict, not the DNA test. Maybe the court didn’t consider the test a credible evidence back then. One of the reasons behind this skepticism could have been that without a testing center of their own Nepal Police had to send the samples to India’s Kolkata for DNA testing.

The Central Police Forensic Science Laboratory (CPFSL) of Nepal Police started DNA testing in Kathmandu in 2015. It performed 85 tests in 2015/16, 137 in 2016/17, and 136 in 2017/18. In 2019/20, the number surged to 310.

“Due to a rise in the number of criminal cases and easier availability of technology, we conduct more DNA tests these days,” says Senior Superintendent of Police Rakesh Singh (not the Rakesh singh mentioned above), head of the
forensic lab.

Don’t trust CSI

“There is increased awareness about DNA testing. But people are still unaware that this is not an easy method to establish crimes, nor is it always credible,” Singh adds. “Maybe they think it’s easy because of the influence of movies and TV shows.”

Yet the contribution of DNA testing in establishing tricky crimes is hard to dispute. Take the case of Chameli and Rabin Khadka, in-laws by relation. They had an affair from which a baby girl was born. DNA testing established Rabin as the biological father of the girl and a great family dispute was settled.

Success in such cases develops public trust on DNA testing. Perhaps that is why it is gaining in popularity.

According to criminologist Madav Prasad Acharya, people have started trusting this test more and more and rely on it to give them justice, “although the recent increase in the number of DNA tests may also suggest an increase in the number of crimes.”

The number of criminal cases at the police forensic lab is increasing too. In 1997/98, the lab had to handle 707 cases. The numbers rose to 6,864 in 1998/99 and 7,435 in 1999/2000. In 2018/19, the number soared to 10,101, the highest till date.

But even as there are many cases DNA testing has successfully resolved, there are also more
tricky ones.

Exceptions and rules

One notable failure has been the unresolved 2018 rape-and-murder case of Nirmala Panta, where the DNA test inaccuracy derailed the whole investigation.

In sexual assault cases, it is difficult to get pure samples and keep them from contamination. While collecting vaginal swabs, victims’ epithelial matter may be mixed with that of the rapist(s), which hampers with the result accuracy. In Panta’s case, the prime suspect Dilip Singh Basnet thus remains free even though he has informally confessed to the crime. The National Human Rights Commission pointed out to big lapses in sample collection.

The misconception that DNA testing always works worries Acharya. “As a scientific method, it is effective in establishing facts. But not always,” he says. “DNA testing is complex and highly sensitive. As such, even a simple error can lead to a disastrouslywrong outcome.”

One such case is from Britain’s Manchester in 2011. A man named Adam Scott was accused of rape, and his DNA matched a sperm sample taken from the rape victim. Due to sampling contamination, the DNA wrongly matched with that of Scott. He was later cleared on the basis of other evidences that went in his favor.

“For the DNA test to be just and effective, special care needs to be taken in sample collection, its transport, and protection from contamination,” says SSP Singh.

Moreover, Nepal Police’s forensic lab has only four staff and is desperately short of skilled manpower for DNA testing. The test is also rather expensive, with even cheap ones costing around Rs 20,000. But according to SSP Singh, Nepal Police is getting progressively better at DNA testing and in ensuring that the results are mostly accurate.