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DNA test may be commonly used in Indonesia to identify victims of terror attacks and accidents, but despite the availability of the advanced technology it is rarely used by law enforcers to help solve cases of sexual violence against women and children.

DNA forensic expert Herawati Sudoyo said DNA test results could be used as strong scientific evidence to prove whether an alleged perpetrator was guilty.

'€œBesides proving that the alleged perpetrators had physical contact with the victims, DNA can also be used for a paternity test if the rape, for example, causes pregnancy,'€ she said during a workshop on DNA forensics for cases of violence against women and children at the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology in Central Jakarta on Thursday.

A DNA test can also clear the name of a suspect. She gave the example of a recent case in Jepara, Central Java, in which a deaf and mute girl was raped and left pregnant.

'€œThe police had apprehended a suspect, but after conducting a DNA test it was proven that the suspect was not the father of the baby,'€ she said, adding that the real rape suspect was still being sought.

Herawati, who is also the deputy director of investigations at Eijkman, said DNA evidence could be taken from various objects found at a crime scene.

'€œClothes, hats, glasses, the body of the victim, cigarette butts and nails are among other things that can be sources of DNA evidence,'€ she said, adding that DNA can be extracted from any part of the body.

She said the objects could contain saliva, blood, sperm, vaginal fluid, skin, hair, dandruff, sweat, bone, teeth and urine, as well as vaginal and rectal cells.

Herawati said she recommended the officers collect the evidence as fast as possible because each source had different levels of endurance. The DNA in vaginal fluid, for example, can still be read seven days after a rape happens.

According to her, the accuracy of an identification made using DNA is high as everyone has a different DNA pattern. '€œThe chance of a person having a similar DNA pattern to another person is one in a trillion,'€ she said.

Herawati said the Eijkman Institute provided a free service for sexual assault victims.

Besides Eijkman, another institution that can conduct DNA tests is the National Police.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Martinus Sitompul said police detectives might have various reasons for rarely using DNA tests in sexual assault cases.

'€œIt could be because the test is expensive,'€ he said over the phone on Friday, adding that the police usually used other methods like fingerprint identification for such cases.

The police, he said, usually used a DNA test to identify victims of accidents like plane crashes.

National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) chairwoman Yuniyanti Chuzaifah said her commission recorded at least 293,000 cases of violence against women in 2014.

'€œDNA tests can be helpful in many cases,'€ she said.

Yuniyanti said a DNA test could also be used against suspects who held powerful positions.

'€œWe recorded that 217 public officials, including from the military, government and police, were alleged perpetrators of sexual violence last year,'€ she said.

The latest case was Pakubuwono XIII of Surakarta who was reported to the police for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl, who later gave birth. The police discontinued the investigation of the case, claiming they found nothing to substantiate the accusation.

Yuniyanti said, however, that many people were still ill-informed about DNA tests.

A DNA test costs between Rp 12 million (US$920) and Rp 15 million.