The use of ‘truth machines’ are also being described as torture methods.
Lie detectors, or polygraphs, record physiological changes in the body when a person answers questions.
Brain fingerprinting (BFP) and brain electrical oscillation signature (BEOS) uses electroencephalogram (EEG) to assess if a person has participated in a crime or has experiential knowledge of it.
Narcoanalysis, or truth serum, refers to injecting a person with Sodium Pentothal to extract information.
In 2010, the Supreme court disallowed the involuntary use of truth machines as well as evidence obtained from them. However, the police continue to request and use these techniques without effectively using forensic techniques such as DNA.
Internationally, these methods have been deemed unreliable and classified as psychological or pharmacologic torture.
The person who is thus being interrogated can be led along a path that can evoke physiological responses ‘as though’ they have participated or planned criminal activity, and therefore cannot be considered reliable ‘evidence’.
These tests are conducted by doctors and have the potential to cause side effects, which could be life threatening or leading to medical complications. This violates the doctor's code of medical ethics. Some of the adverse effects of narcolepsy include depression of the central nervous system, lowered heart rate and blood pressure, coma or death. (add clinical features)
Narcolepsy also classifies as a violation of the self-incrimination clause of the Indian Constitution (Article 20 (3)) and the corresponding 161 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code:24 which are fundamental principles of criminal law wherein an accused person has the right to remain silent during investigation.
Even if consent is obtained for these procedures, they may be under duress, false assurances or threats and therefore mostly invalid.
Doctors and society in general can get enamored by these ‘high tech’ interrogation methods, often projected as ‘in the national interest’, but medical ethics and human rights cannot be suspended in any instance.
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