DOHA: A law is in the offing that would make DNA tests admissible in courts as evidence in criminal and other cases.
According to a prominent lawyer, once implemented, the law will likely prevent people from getting DNA tests conducted privately to confirm blood relationships.
Only an investigating agency or the judiciary or any other state body will have the authority to order a DNA test following the implementation of the law.
The Cabinet, at its weekly meeting yesterday, approved the draft law that aims at regulating DNA tests for various purposes, reports Qatar News Agency (QNA).
The draft law suggests that it would be within the authority of a competent doctor to suggest which part of human body a sample or samples are to be taken for DNA tests. And the DNA data thus collected are to be maintained with confidentiality. Their use would be prohibited except in purposes stipulated by the law.
Asked for comment, prominent lawyer Yusuf Al Zaman told this newspaper that the need for such a law was being felt for long to help gather scientific evidences in criminal and other cases and make them admissible in court as evidence.
“DNA tests are needed even in accidents like plane crashes where the identity of a victim or victims is to be found out,” said Al Zaman.
However, first and foremost, the draft law would make DNA tests admissible in a court of law as evidence in criminal and other cases, the lawyer said. “This isn’t the case so far.”
He said that earlier when there was not so much of scientific advancement and DNA tests were not known, there were problems in ascertaining the identity of culprits in criminal cases and identifying the bodies in group accidents like train or plane crashes.
The other cases where DNA tests could come in handy are, for example, where a father denies someone is his offspring.
Al Zaman said the draft legislation could ban DNA tests ordered privately by individuals or families to ascertain blood relationships. That can lead to social chaos as people could indiscriminately opt for such tests to see, for instance, if one’s father is really one’s father or not or vice versa.
The Peninsula
