Canada border authorities use DNA tool to detect nationality
Ottawa, July 31 : Immigration officials in Canada have been using DNA testing and ancestry websites to try and determine migrants nationality, according to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).
The agency's actions have raised concerns about the privacy of the data held by the sites involved in the process.
The agency has not kept statistics on how often the tools had been applied, but they were being used on those who run afoul of the country's immigration laws, the Guardian reported. The CBSA said the tools also come in handy "whenever other avenues of investigation have been exhausted".
Vice News first reported the story after speaking to two immigration lawyers whose clients had been investigated through DNA tests submitted to FamilytreeDNA.com.
The CBSA described the tools "as part of a suite of investigative techniques" used to ascertain a person's identity. "DNA testing assists the CBSA to focus further lines of investigation on particular countries," the CBSA spokesperson said.
The agency obtains consent from the migrants before submitting their information the sites.
"The CBSA does not publicly discuss the mechanics of its investigative techniques in a public forum, as doing so could render them ineffective," the Guardian was told.
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SC seeks ED's response on journalist's bail plea in money laundering case
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to file its response within three days on a bail plea of journalist Mahesh Langa in a money laundering case linked to an alleged financial fraud.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi also asked senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the jailed journalist, to file rejoinder, if needed, to the ED's response within two days of it being filed.
The top court fixed the case for further hearing on December 15.
During the brief hearing on Monday, Sibal said a journalist has been facing as many as six cases.
"The journalist is accused of extortion," the counsel for the ED said and sought a short adjournment on the ground that Solicitor General Tuhar Mehta was unavailable at the moment.
The top court on September 8 sought responses from the Gujarat government and the ED on Langa's bail plea.
While issuing the notices on Langa's bail plea, the bench asked, "What kind of a journalist is he?"
"With due respect, there are some very genuine journalists. But there are also people who on their scooter say we are 'patrakar' (journalists) and what they actually do everybody knows," the bench told Sibal.
Sibal replied that these are all allegations.
"In one FIR, he gets anticipatory bail, then a second FIR is lodged and again anticipatory bail is granted but now he is booked under a third FIR for income tax evasion. There are other things also against him," Sibal submitted.
He added that there is a background to the case also.
On July 31, the Gujarat High Court rejected Langa's bail plea in the money laundering case on the grounds that if released on bail, prejudice would be caused to the prosecution case.
On February 25, the ED said it arrested Langa in a money laundering investigation linked to an alleged financial fraud.
He was first arrested in October 2024 in a GST fraud case.
The money laundering case against Langa stems from two FIRs filed by Ahmedabad police on charges of fraud, criminal misappropriation, criminal breach of trust, cheating and causing wrongful loss of lakhs of rupees to certain people.
