“After the installation of the the machine, some technicians from India will train some of our manpower to operate it,” said SSP Janak Singh, chief of Central Police Forensic Science Laboratory (CPFSL).

The Nepal Police has been sending a majority of the DNA test required during police investigations to India. Some of the tests can be conducted in the country by the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST). However, owing to the lack of a legal protocol through which the tests could be handed over to the NAST, it does not take up any such case unless ordered by the court.

The question of authenticity with NAST’s DNA tests came up three years ago when Sheela Gurung (name changed) claimed that a person named Rajesh Gurung (name changed) was her baby’s father, while the latter had been claiming he never knew the woman. The DNA test conducted at the NAST showed Rajesh was not the child’s father. The Supreme Court, however, was not convinced with the DNA report owing to various “technical reasons,” one of them being the “unauthenticated collection” of Rajesh’s DNA samples.

SSP Singh said such cases are increasing every year and DNA test is very essential to solve them.

With the installation of the DNA machine, he said, the investigators in Nepal can now achieve a quality result in short period of time. The data from CPFSL show that in 2010/11, 4,256 cases were brought for lab test while in 2011/12 the number was 5,061. The total number of test conducted in 2012/13 was 5,128.

SSP Singh said while the installation of DNA machine is something to cheer about, lack of manpower to handle the test might make it hard to meet the demands of the investigating officers.