Delhi HC reserves order on PIL for direction to Law Commission to prepare comprehensive report to control fake cases

The Delhi High Court on Monday reserved an order on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking direction to the Law Commission of India to prepare a comprehensive report to control fake cases and to reduce the police investigation time and precious judicial time.

On Monday, the Division Bench comprising Justice Satish Chander Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad kept the order reserved, heard Petitioner’s submissions, and said they would pass the appropriate order.

The plea further sought directions to the Police to ask the complainant “Whether she is willing to undergo scientific tests like Narco Analysis, Polygraphy, and Brain mapping during the investigation to prove allegation” and record her statement in the FIR.

Petitioner Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, a BJP leader, submitted that it would work as a deterrent, and there would be a massive reduction in fake cases as well as police investigation time and judicial time.

According to the Petitioner, it will also secure thousands of innocent citizens’ right to life, liberty, and dignity under tremendous physical and mental trauma and financial stress due to fake cases.

Recently a complaint was filed against one journalist under the SC-ST Act though the complainant and the accused don’t know each other, stated the Petitioner. “Presently, with the growth of technology and new means to aid justice, the investigating agencies of developed countries like the US, China, and Singapore are frequently using scientific tests like Narco Analysis, Polygraphy and Brain Mapping and therefore, fake cases are very few but ‘deception detection tests’ are rarely used in India, and that’s why police stations and courts are filled with fake cases,” stated the plea.

Petitioner also submitted that narco-analysis does not amount to compulsion as it is a mere process of extracting information through disinhibition. The results are ascertained from the video recorded during the test, which could help disseminate more information.

The whole process is video recorded, and the doctors give a report for further consideration and to help find more evidence. The Courts, in many instances, have permitted the use of different scientific tests for further investigation.

The narco-analysis test is conducted by a team that comprises the medical practitioners and other officers: an anaesthesiologist, a psychiatrist, a clinical/ forensic psychologist, an audio-videographer, and supporting nursing staff.

The test is read and analysed by a forensic psychologist, who then presents a report and a video recording stored on a CD. If the Courts find it necessary, then this test is further verified through brain mapping and polygraph (lie detector) test, the plea read.