Significance of Autosomal STR Markers Kits to Determine Sexual Assault Case Involving Brother

Abstract

Sexual harassment of women and child is an unpardonable crime that fallout from the distorted mentality of vermin men. A crime of this nature becomes very tragic and complicated when a close relative or family member of the victim is involved. In many cases the event is hidden under family pressure due to fear of desecration. Once such a crime is reported, it is necessary to detect the incident by scientific method. DNA fingerprinting plays an important role in detecting a criminal's involvement in a crime. Currently, the Y STR marker kit is available which helps to detect presence of male content on the exhibits, received from the complainant. But in some circumstances in which the woman is raped by her husband's spouse, the Y STR marker kit is not sufficient to give conclusive outcome. The present study is based on a similar incident in which a married woman was raped by her brother-inlaw. The presence of male DNA was confirmed by Y STR markers kit on the source of victim. Obtained Y STR DNA profile was completely matched with the male (Y) STR DNA profile of offender’s source, but this profile was also found similar to the male (Y) STR DNA profile of the victim's husband's. When the autosomal STR DNA profile was obtained from isolated DNA, conclusive results were obtained that the male DNA found at the victim's source was of the perpetrator rather than the victim's husband. The current case study suggests that the main advantage of using Y-STR approach is the ability to detect male DNA at the source of the victim, but when the woman is married and her husband's paternal relatives are involved in incidents can share same Y Lineages, then Such cases can only be resolved by using autosomal STR markers kit. Keywords: Sexual assault; Paternal relative; Power plex Y-STR; Global filer autosomal STR; DNA typing; Multiplex PCR.