Narco Tests and the Constitution: Balancing Truth-Finding and Fundamental Rights

The recent order of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court, refusing permission to conduct narco-analysis on the Pahalgam attack accused without consent, brings back an old dilemma: how should the law weigh the State's quest for truth against the individual's fundamental rights?

- Sankalp Maheshwari (UPSC Coach & Founder Intellectual Indians) Mail [e-mail]

Across India, investigative agencies have experimented with three procedures — polygraph tests, narco-analysis and brain mapping. The polygraph records physiological indicators like pulse, breathing and perspiration, assuming deception triggers stress. Narco-analysis relies on sodium pentothal, a sedative believed to lower resistance and encourage disclosure, while brain mapping links answers to electrical patterns in the brain. Yet none of these techniques carries unquestioned scientific credibility; results can be inconsistent, producing both false positives and false negatives.