Blood of Accused - Vital Scientific Evidence in Crime of Rape

Abstract

Rape is a heinous crime and lot of rape crimes are registered in Maharashtra day to day. In case of a minor victim, medical examination plays important role to prove the rape. For the forensic analysis, forensic science laboratory receives the samples collected by medical officers during the medical examination of victim and accused and the other samples of them like clothes, crime scene articles seized by investigation agency. In the crime of rape, semen of accused on clothes of victim or in genital parts of victim is always the crucial scientific evidence which can prove the act of crime and can led severe punishment by law. However, every time it is not possible to obtain semen on articles as sometimes ejaculation of semen may not be achieved by the culprit. In such situations, blood also plays important role to connect the accused with the crime. We analyzed two such cases where, DNA profiles obtained from blood detected on victim’s clothes matched with DNA profiles of accused. However, as the cases were belonged to rape, accused were adult and both victims were minor, the transfer of blood of accused on their clothes was astonishing. After studying medical examination report of both the accused, it was found that they had penile injuries while attempting the crime. So, in absence of semen; the DNA profile obtained from blood on victim’s clothes found the crucial evidence in both the cases which proved the involvement of accused in the crime. Introduction Recently there has been tremendous rise in sexual offences against women and more dangerous fact is that the number of minor victims in such crimes is more. Census data from 2011 shows that in India 472 million children below age of eighteen and out of them 225 million are girls [1]. Many times due to pressure and lack of knowledge, these children fear to talk about atrocious crime. India has taken lot of precautions since the Nirbhaya case happened and made legal provision of new act “Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 (POCSO Act 2012)” and continuously monitoring these cases [2]. To increase conviction rate, scientific evidence has lot of importance and DNA evidence is the one of best evidence. If this evidence is found, court can send culprit to rigorous imprisonment considering DNA report. While performing forensic analysis of exhibits seized in sexual offences, though semen is absent in medical samples like vaginal swab, pubic hair or on her clothes, if blood of accused is found on her exhibits, it can play a vital evidence to prove the crime. This evidence of blood is very much important in specifically minor victims. Because in such crimes, it is observed that most of the times, accused fails to intercourse and ejaculate semen because of smaller opening of vagina of minor girl and he himself gets penile injuries while forceful attempt. Blood detected in such cases is important to prove the crime [3]. We solved such two cases in our forensic science laboratory. Kudekar DY1*, Mahajan VB1*, More BP1, Kawade JR1 and Kulkarni KV2 1Regional Forensic Science Laboratory, Home Department, India 2Directorates of Forensic Science Laboratories, Home Department, India *Address for Correspondence Kudekar DY, Regional Forensic Science Laboratory, Government of Maharashtra, Home Department, Dindori Road, Nashik 440002, Maharashtra, India; Phone/Fax (O): 0253-2620573, Mob: 8898267006; E-mail: deepak.kudekar99@maharashtra.gov.in Mahajan VB, Regional Forensic Science Laboratory, Home Department, India Email: vaishalimahajan.nagpur@gmail.com Submission: 16-July-2020 Accepted: 12-August-2020 Published: 19-August-2020 Copyright: © 2020 Kudekar DY, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Research Article Open Access Journal of Forensic Investigation Avens Publishing Group Inviting Innovations Avens Publishing Group Inviting Innovations In first case, registered in Nashik District, victim was 15 years old. One day she went to buy grocery to nearby shop. A known boy had taken advantage of her innocence and lured her. He took her in secluded place and raped her forcefully without her consent. In the second case, registered in Jalgaon District, victim was only 9 years old. She was a special child with mental illness while culprit was 65 years old and he was her neighbor. The child was plying near her home; accused called her in his home and tried to rape her on iron bed. In both the cases, investigation agencies sent seized cloths along with medical samples of victims and accused to Regional forensic science laboratory Nashik for forensic examination. Materials and Methods Prepfiler Express Kit (applied biosystem) AmpFI STR Identifler kit (applied biosystem) Forensic Buffer pH 8