Hyderabad, May 06: F orcing someone to undergo brain mapping, narco-analysis or a lie detection test does not go down well with quite a few forensic experts.
Former director of the AP Forensic Science Laboratory (APFSL) KPC Gandhi, who earlier held several seminars to discuss whether such practices were ethical, is categorical in describing such tests as unethical.
“Inducing a drug to make a criminal spell out the truth is inhuman.
Sometimes, the life of the accused is at stake during narcoanalysis,” Gandhi, now the chairman of Truths Laboratory, told Express.
Narco-analysis is carried out by mixing three grams of Sodium Pentothal or Sodium Amytal dissolved in 300 ml of distilled water.
It is administered to the accused to ease his inhibition and increase his volubility, enabling investigators to ferret out information they are looking for. Of the 215 countries where policing is done, narcoanalysis is performed only in India.
And the experts who are made to do it are decidedly queasy.
“During investigation, police can use either interrogation or corroborative methods. Our police use third-degree methods too. But using narco analysis can affect the bloodstreams of the accused,” Gandhi pointed out.
Former director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) K Vijaya Rama Rao told Express that the judgment was a positive development.
“It should be understood that findings in narco analysis or lie detector or brain-mapping tests cannot be accepted as the evidence in court. The findings can only be used to gather leads,” Vijaya Rama Rao said.
He also noted that under the Evidence Act, no criminal could be compelled to incriminate himself.
“These tests will also come under the same category and hence cannot be taken as evidence. Moreover, to conduct the test the consent of the person is required,” he pointed out.
–Agencies