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A violation of the mind

The debate on the use of narco-analysis as an aid to police investigation deserves to be placed on the front-burner in India. At a time, when enlightened nations have prohibited using `truth serums' for this purpose, it is astonishing that they are frequently administered, and that too with judicial approval. The decision to make Moninder Singh and Surendra, the suspects in the grisly Noida serial killings undergo narco-analysis tests is only the latest in a series of cases in which the police have relied on this dubious and offensive practice in the hope of obtaining further evidence. `Truth serums' could refer to one of many sedative or hypnotic drugs (the favoured one in India is sodium pentathol) that could lull a person into becoming more uninhibited and talkative. The term is a misnomer since there is no guarantee those interrogated will speak only the truth; moreover, the drug, which can be administered intravenously or orally, is not a serum. The use of narco-analysis on unwilling subjects is an invasive procedure, involving as it does the power to tear down their volitional capacities and make people act against their will. It could be argued that forcing `truth serums' on people is a form of physical abuse and therefore a form of torture, as construed in the United Nations Convention Against Torture.

Narco-analysis is not used in many countries, including the United States, which resisted changing the rules of interrogation after the September 11 attacks despite pressure from some authorities — including former Central Intelligence Agency chief William Webster — to use `truth serums' on uncooperative Al Qaeda and Taliban members. In India, the resort to narco-analysis as an interrogation method has been of somewhat recent origin and has crept in almost insidiously. A few of those accused in the Godhra case were made to undergo narco-analysis in 2002 and since then, it has been used intermittently — frequently enough to worry that it might become a routine technique of police investigation. Astonishingly, the judiciary has given its seal of approval for the practice. In the fake stamp paper case, it was the court that ordered the narco-analysis of the main accused, Abdul Karim Telgi. Two years ago, the Bombay High Court held that tests "involving minimal bodily harm" such as narco-analysis and brain mapping did not violate constitutional rights, including the protection against self-incrimination guaranteed by Article 20(3). Men such as Moninder Singh and Surendra deserve no sympathy or leniency if found guilty. The issue is whether a state that is humane and respects human rights should subject them and others in their position to interrogative techniques that amount to a violation of the mind.

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