Narco analysis test facility to start after Covid situation under control: Delhi govt to HC

The AAP government has informed the Delhi High Court that the process to start a Narco analysis test facility here is underway and it will commence after the COVID-19 pandemic situation comes under control.

The Delhi government told the high court that the facility has been set up at Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital in Rohini and it could not commence operations due to the pandemic.

According to lawyers, this would be the first such facility to be established in Delhi.

“So far as the setting up of the Narco Analysis Test facility at Delhi is concerned, the status report discloses that the process to start the Narco Analysis examination is underway and the examination shall be conducted at Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, Rohini, as soon as the Covid-19 pandemic situation comes under control.

"Sanjay Lao (additional standing counsel of Delhi government) states that the said facility has been set up but cannot be put to use in view of the Covid-19 pandemic,” a bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Rajnish Bhatnagar said.

The high court had earlier asked the Delhi government to file a status report disclosing as to whether any steps have been taken to set up the facility in Delhi, considering the fact that a large number of such tests are required to be conducted in respect of the cases registered here.

The issue cropped up while the court was hearing a plea by a father who has been running around in search of his 19-year-old son who is missing since September 17, 2018.

Advocate Siddharth Yadav, appearing for petitioner Tejbir Singh, said the man has been facing the tyranny of the authorities as he has been made to run from pillar to post but to no avail.

The petition said the missing boy wanted to become a wrestler and his father had told the police that he suspected the owner of the gymnasium and four others behind the disappearance of his son but the officials have not taken any action after which he approached the court.

“All of these persons have not even been put to Narco tests. It seems that the concerned police officials are trying to protect the persons accused by the petitioner regarding the missing of his son,” it said.

The police have told the high court that the test has been done on two suspects and the remaining three suspects are yet to be subjected to Narco analysis test as the process could not be completed at Ahmedabad on account of the pandemic.

The high court directed that “let the Narco Analysis Test of the three remaining persons, namely Rohit, Naresh Dahiya and Vishal Malik be conducted either at Ahmedabad or at Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, Rohini – as soon as the said facility becomes operational.”

The court listed the matter for November 25 to await for further development in the case and asked the authorities to file a status report.

Narco analysis involves injection of a drug, sodium pentothal, which induces a hypnotic or sedated state in which the person’s imagination is neutralised and he or she is expected to divulge true information. During the test, questions are asked and responses are recorded on camera.

The Supreme Court in 2010 has held that involuntary administration of narco or lie detection test is an intrusion into a person’s mental privacy and the law disapproves of involuntary testimony.