SDDIS
Definition
System for DNA Data and Index Support; the proposed national DNA database architecture under India's DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill 2019, comprising five indices covering suspects, offenders, missing persons, unknown deceased, and volunteers.
- Full name
- System for DNA Data and Index Support
- Jurisdiction
- India, under the proposed DNA Technology Bill 2019
- Index count
- Five indices
- Indices covered
- Suspects, offenders, missing persons, unknown deceased, volunteers
- Status
- Proposed architecture, not yet a fully operational national database
Common questions
How does SDDIS compare to the FBI's CODIS system in the United States?+
Both are structured as multiple separate indices rather than one pooled database, but SDDIS as proposed under India's bill adds a missing-persons and unknown-deceased pairing not present in CODIS's core categories, reflecting India's particular use case for identifying unidentified bodies and tracing missing people.
Why does SDDIS separate a volunteers index from the suspects and offenders indices?+
Volunteers, such as relatives of a missing person who give a reference sample, have not been accused of any offense, so keeping their profiles in a separate index limits how their data can be searched and matched, addressing privacy and consent concerns that a merged database would not.
What has delayed SDDIS becoming fully operational nationwide?+
The enabling legislation, the DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, has faced repeated parliamentary delay and privacy objections since its introduction, so implementation has proceeded unevenly through state-level FSL databases rather than a single unified national system.
Related terms
- CODIS (Combined DNA Index System)
- The FBI-managed software architecture for the US national forensic DNA database, operating through a three-tier structure of local (LDIS), state (SDIS), and...
- EU Prüm Framework
- The legal framework created by Council Decisions 2008/615/JHA and 2008/616/JHA allowing automated hit/no-hit cross-border searching between EU member states' national DNA, fingerprint,...
- Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG)
- A forensic identification technique that uploads a crime-scene DNA profile to a consumer genealogy database, identifies partial matches suggesting distant family relationships,...
- Maryland V. King (2013)
- US Supreme Court decision holding that the collection of a DNA sample from an individual arrested for a serious offence does not...
- NDNAD
- National DNA Database (UK); the world's first national forensic DNA database, established in 1995, operated by the National DNA Database Strategy Board....
- S and Marper V. UK (2008)
- European Court of Human Rights Grand Chamber judgment holding that indefinite retention of fingerprints, cellular samples, and DNA profiles of unconvicted individuals...