With upgradation of Forensic Science Laboratory by upgrading DNA technology, the Himachal Pradesh government is vying to up the conviction rate and significantly increasing trial period in criminal cases, especially sexual assault and murder cases.

Former chief scientist of Directorate of Forensic Sciences VK Kashyap said before the advent of DNA profiling and its use in solving heinous crimes, the conviction rate stood at 5 per cent with an average trial period of 5-6 years.

“But after the use of DNA evidence in sexual assault and murder cases, the conviction rate has gone up to 50 per cent and the average trial period has been reduced to few months,” he added.

State Forensic Science Laboratory director Arun Sharma said the FSL in Himachal is all set to make new DNA technology upgrades to its state and Range Forensic Science Laboratories (RFSLs) that will increase the number of cases being analyzed.

“The FSL in Junga is the first in the country to initiate well-equipped DNA facilities in all its labs across the state. The aim is to accelerate the DNA profiling process that will lead to quicker investigation and trial, thus fast-tracking the criminal justice system,” he said.

According to a 3-year data shared by the state FSL, sexual assault cases makes up for 44 per cent of the total cases received for DNA profiling.

An unfortunate number of 900 cases are still pending for DNA analysis and 14 per cent cases are samples from victims of sexual assault.

These new DNA technology upgrades will essentially bring down the number of unsolved sexual assault crimes in the state.

“All the FSL labs is being upgraded and these are in the final stages of procuring the new equipments,” he said.

Sharma said FSL lab receives around 30-35 cases for DNA profiling while the lab is only able to process 20-25 cases in a month that includes backlog cases too.

“But the new technology is included in all three labs, we will be able to process more cases,” he added. State FSL Assistant Director (DNA) Vivek Sahajpal said a DNA Database is crucial to solve crimes involving repeat offenders.