Notice issued to Government of Jammu & Kashmir
The National Human Rights Commission has taken suo motu cognizance of reports that defective samples had been taken for DNA testing in a case relating to Jammu & Kashmir. It issued the following notice on 14 March 2002:
“The recent media reports, which also contain the statements attributed to the Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir on the subject of DNA testing in the present case, make disturbing reading. These reports appear to suggest that the action taken earlier for collection of samples for DNA testing was defective for which the persons taking the samples are supposed to be responsible. The statements attributed to the Chief Minister, Shri Farooq Abdullah, suggest that the Chief Minister himself is disturbed by these allegations and is taking action for proper DNA tasting, in addition to fixing accountability of the delinquent public servants responsible for collection of the earlier defective samples.
In view of these media reports, which have not come as a surprise to the Commission because of the reservations it has had on the performance of the concerned public servants reported earlier to the Commission not being found very satisfactory, the Commission requires the Government of J&K to submit a comprehensive up-to-date report of the action taken in this matter together with that in contemplation to correctly identify the five deceased as well as the follow-up action.
Report, to the above effect, be called from the Government of J&K through its Chief Secretary as well as from the Ministries of Defence and Home Affairs, Government of India within eight weeks”.
The Commission regrets that till now no reports have been received whatsoever.
“The recent media reports, which also contain the statements attributed to the Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir on the subject of DNA testing in the present case, make disturbing reading. These reports appear to suggest that the action taken earlier for collection of samples for DNA testing was defective for which the persons taking the samples are supposed to be responsible. The statements attributed to the Chief Minister, Shri Farooq Abdullah, suggest that the Chief Minister himself is disturbed by these allegations and is taking action for proper DNA tasting, in addition to fixing accountability of the delinquent public servants responsible for collection of the earlier defective samples.
In view of these media reports, which have not come as a surprise to the Commission because of the reservations it has had on the performance of the concerned public servants reported earlier to the Commission not being found very satisfactory, the Commission requires the Government of J&K to submit a comprehensive up-to-date report of the action taken in this matter together with that in contemplation to correctly identify the five deceased as well as the follow-up action.
Report, to the above effect, be called from the Government of J&K through its Chief Secretary as well as from the Ministries of Defence and Home Affairs, Government of India within eight weeks”.
The Commission regrets that till now no reports have been received whatsoever.