Antop Hill murder: Forensic experts call for central implant database

September 2021 Antop Hill murdermdashSurgical plate in leg helped police identify the victim November 2019 Vakola resident Bennett RebellomdashOdontologists at Sion hospital found he had undergone dental prosthesis for seven teeth including root canal treatment in five and fixing of ceramic and metal crows in all seven The odontological study of the skull helped in identifying RebelloMarch 2018mdashKochi police identified a body found in a barrel covered with concrete and dumped along the backwaters of Kumbalam Kerala from the surgical implant in the deceasedrsquos ankle In all the above cases the common aspect was that police found unidentified dismembered bodies and identified them through their surgical implantslsquoNeed alternative methodsrsquoForensic experts in the state said that when conventional textbook methods of identification like visual recognition and dental comparison canrsquot be used to identify a deceased it becomes necessary to consider alternative ways An orthopaedic implant in a body may assist in identification if antemortem medical records are available The need of the hour is to make it mandatory for all surgical implant manufacturers to have a unique identification code which should be stored in a central systemThis also became crucial especially after the UIDAI Aadhaar told the Delhi High Court that its technologies permit biometric authentication on a persontoperson basis but for that the Aadhaar number of the said individual was mandatory The agency also said that it doesnrsquot collect biometric data viz iris scan and fingerprints based on technologies and standards or procedures suitable for forensics therefore using the biometric data for identification of unknownunidentified bodies may not be technologically feasibleInterestingly in 2015 Maharashtra topped the states in the number of unidentified bodies found in the country at 6185 as per the National Crime Records Bureau data In 2016 India found 34592 unidentified bodies Between January 1 2019 and March 31 2019 367 such bodies were foundForensic experts said if some of these unidentified deceased had a surgical implant its unique identification code could have been used to trace the manufacturer and then the hospital where the deceased underwent the surgery And if all this data could be stored in one central system police from any part of the country could access the records and the number of unidentified deceased can be brought down This may also be helpful in identification of victimsnext of kin during natural calamityPositive identificationDr Indrajit Khandekar professor of forensic medicine and toxicology at MGIMS Sevagram Wardha said ldquoEstablishing the identity of unknown persons is a challenging task for forensic experts and it is more difficult if the body is decomposed or only skeletal remains are availablerdquoldquoIn most cases dental records postmortem radiography DNA profiling fingerprinting etc have been used for establishing the deceasedrsquos identity However these methods are expensive and require additional data which is not possible most of the time Implanted medical or surgical devices can help in positive identification and become a rapid and inexpensive method if a central database is maintained for effective trackingrdquo he addedAhmedabadbased Mayur Bathani whose company had manufactured the implant found in the leg of Antop Hill victim had earlier told midday ldquoEvery manufacturer has their unique code and identification marks printedembossed on their implants but this is limited for our referral purposeand we usually keep records of three to four yearsrdquoNeed central systemDr Rajesh Dhere professor and HoD of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology Sion hospital said ldquoThere is a need for a central registration system where all the surgical and dental implants pacemakers etc are to be mandatorily registered by both the manufacturer and the hospital where the operation is donerdquoldquoThere is not a single authority registry record of any such surgical implants in India In foreign nations a case like this would take minutes to confirm the patient details as each implant has a unique unrepeatable code along with central digitised registration A similar system in todayrsquos digital India must be a normrdquo said Dr DhereDr Dhere who is also the secretary of Maharashtra Medico Legal Association will soon be discussing the matter with the executive committee of the association and also make necessary presentations to the authorities of the state and central governments requesting to set up a centralised data systemMandatory registration from lsquo22Dr Khandekar said ldquoAs per Rule 46 of Medical Devices Rules 2017 Unique Device Identification UDI of the medical device will be effective from January 1 2022 As per these rules a medical device approved for manufacture for sale or distribution or import shall bear UDI that shall contain device and production identifierrdquo Medical device rules also have a provision to develop a UDI database but they donrsquot provide procedures for using this system for crime investigations he explainedOther sideAmol Deshmukh officer on special duty Maharashtra said ldquoIt is the need of the hour to have a central database for all implants that can be integrated with other forensic data for quick identification of unknownunclaimed bodiesrdquo