Authored by Sumeir Ahuja
Ajmal
Amir Kasab, the only terrorist in the November 26 Mumbai terror strike to be
captured alive, was subjected to a narco analysis test to corroborate all that
he had confessed and to get more information about the conspiracy.
The
two main accused in the Nithari serial killings Mohinder Singh Pandher and
Surendra Kohli underwent the narco analysis tests in Gandhinagar in Gujarat.
Most
of us have heard about the narco analysis test but don’t really know what it
is. So in this article I will answer two main questions:
1. What exactly are these tests
and how do they help investigators?
2. And more importantly are the
results of these tests admissible in court?
The Science behind Narco-Analysis[1]
The
narco analysis test is conducted by mixing 3 grams of Sodium Pentothal or
Sodium Amytal dissolved in 3000 ml of distilled water. This test
involves the intravenous administration of this drug, which causes the subject
to enter into various stages of anesthesia. In the hypnotic stage, the subject
becomes less inhibited and is more likely to divulge information, which would
usually not be revealed in the conscious state. He or she may also divulge all
his/her fantasies, personal wishes, impulses, instinctual drive, illusions,
delusions, conflicts, misinterpretations, etc.[2]
A
person is able to lie by using his imagination. The narco analysis test
interferes with his nervous system at the molecular level. In this state, it
becomes difficult though not impossible for him to lie. In such a sleep-like
state efforts are made to obtain "probative truth" about the crime.
Experts inject a subject with hypnotics like Sodium Pentothal or Sodium Amytal
under the controlled circumstances of the laboratory. The dose is dependent on
the person's sex, age, health and physical condition.
Validity of the test[3]
Narco analysis is one such
scientific form of investigation in which a statement from the accused is
acquired, which might form evidence. The Evidence Act is silent regarding the
employment of such scientific processes. Such process has often been criticized
as against the tenets of Constitution and on the other hand has been upheld as
a necessity to evaluate some complicated issues.
The
right against self-incrimination, widely known as the Right to Silence is mentioned
in the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Constitution. In the CrPC, the
legislature has guarded a citizen’s right against self-incrimination. S.161 (2)
of the Code of Criminal Procedure states that every person “is bound to answer
truthfully all questions, put to him by [a police] officer, other than
questions the answers to which, would have a tendency to expose that person to
a criminal charge, penalty or forfeiture”.
The
use of this test has legal mandate under Section 53 of the Criminal Procedure
Code, which lists a host of various modern techniques like DNA fingerprinting
and collection of blood samples as perfectly legal tools to probe a crime. The
term 'such other tests' occurring in the explanatory note of the Section 53
makes the narco analysis test legal in India.
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