ABSTRACT
There is limited research in India focusing on the criminal justice system issues involving a special category of victims and accused suffering from unsoundness of mind. According to the Mental Health Care Act, 2017, they need immediate mental health services, as denial of the same is a violation of their fundamental right. Despite several advancements, people with unsound mind serving their sentences in the prisons constitute a major lot of the total prison population in India, despite the fact that they are the most helpless targets of human rights violations. Section 84 of the Indian Penal Code provides a constitutional right to an accused with unsound mind to seek defense against prosecution; but due to lack of awareness and acceptance and also due to outdated testing methods, the law is not under frequent practice and not exercised to its complete worth. By compromising on the procedure established by law, they are kept under trial in judicial custody. Thus, there is an urgent need to identify and address such victims and provide them with right care and protection that the constitution entitles them. This review article is an attempt to explore and highlight this issue, to raise a voice for identification of such violations, to provide means to deliberate medicolegal aid, and lastly to find out probable solutions, recommendations, and suggestions for a better administration of justice by providing legal security to the protection of basic human rights of people with an unsound mind.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: This study was planned to evaluate the genetic diversity in the admixed and Teli (a Hindu caste) populations of Maharashtra, India using 20 autosomal Short Tandem Repeat (STR) genetic markers. We further investigated the genetic relatedness of the studied populations with other Indian populations. RESULTS: The studied populations showed a wide range of observed heterozygosity viz. 0.690 to 0.918 for the admixed population and 0.696 to 0.942 for the Teli population. This might be due to the multi-directional gene flow. The admixed and Teli populations also showed a high degree polymorphism which ranged from 0.652 to 0.903 and 0.644 to 0.902, respectively. Their combined value of matching probability for all the studied loci was 4.29 × 10-25 and 5.01 × 10-24, respectively. The results of Neighbor-Joining tree and Principal Component Analysis showed that the studied populations clustered with the general populations of Jharkhand, UttarPradesh, Rajasthan and Central Indian States, as well as with the specific populations of Maharashtra (Konkanastha Brahmins) and Tamil Nadu (Kurmans). Overall, the obtained data showed a high degree of forensic efficacy and would be useful for forensic applications as well as genealogical studies.
