New Delhi, Jan 22 (IANS) The Union government Tuesday justified before the Supreme Court the use of modern scientific techniques like brain mapping, narco-analysis and polygraph to investigate a crime. The government took its stand while arguing a bunch of petitions challenging these methods’ use.
Solicitor General Goolam E. Vahanvati defended the use of such techniques before a bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, hearing petitions against these techniques. The petitions have been filed by some accused of various crimes.
“In today’s complex social milieu with proliferating crimes against the society and the integrity of the country, it is necessary to keep in mind the interest of the society at large and the need for a thorough and proper investigation, as against individual rights, while ensuring that the individual constitutional rights are not infringed,” the law officer said.
“If these tests are properly considered to be steps in the aid of investigation and not for obtaining incrimination statements, there is no constitutional infirmity whatsoever,” Vahanvati contended.
“These tests are scientific methods in furtherance of investigation. All these tests are considered to be part of the process of collecting some subsequent evidence. These tests may provide some clues to the investigative agency to collect some evidence but the statements given by the accused against themselves during these tests are not of any evidentiary value,” he clarified.
Rebutting the contention by various accused that the polygraph, brain mapping and narco-analysis tests had no legal sanction, Vahanvati asserted that section 53 of the Criminal Procedure Code accords the requisite statutory sanction for the conducting these tests.
“The use of term ‘such other tests’ in section 53 of the CrPC includes in its ambit polygraph, brain mapping and narco-analysis,” he asserted.