SHRC recommends victims’ DNA profiling

In a significant decision on Thursday, the Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has recommended the identification of all persons buried in the state’s 2080 unmarked graves in Poonch and Rajouri districts through DNA profiling and other scientific and forensic examinations.  The commission has asked the government to complete this process within six months. The petition was filed before the SHRC by the association of parents of disappeared persons in the year 2011.   Earlier, the J&K government accepted before the commission that there were 2080 unidentified and unmarked graves in the twin districts of Poonch and Rajouri. The SHRC said, “The dead bodies and the unmarked graves should be identified by all available scientific means like DNA profile, carbon dating and forensic pathology as may be applicable.” It said that it will help to identify the bodies and the authorities will see whether, or not, the identity matches with the disappeared persons. SHRC chairman, Justice Bilal Nazki (Retired) said in his order that the commission has no hesitation to recommend to the authorities to identify the persons in these unmarked mass graves. He has also mentioned their earlier order in 2011 with regard to the identification of unmarked mass graves in Kupwara, Baramulla and Bandipora region of North Kashmir.