The Centre on Monday withdrew the DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2019 from the Lok Sabha. Union Minister of State Science & Technology Jitendra Singh withdrew the Bill when the House reassembled at 12 noon after an earlier adjournment.

The Bill seeks to regulate the use and application of Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) technology for the purposes of establishing the identity of certain categories of people, including victims, offenders, suspects, those under trial, those missing, and unidentified dead.

The Bill was introduced on July 8, 2019, and referred to the Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests, and Climate Change for examination.

The proposed law, which has been in the making since 2003, has seen multiple iterations in Parliament.

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury called the bill “flawed” since it did not provide for consent for storing DNA data, arguing that it violated the fundamental rights of an individual as DNA of under trials could be collected without court orders.

The bill would institutionalise a “surveillance state”, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said.