Attn UP Govt: Forcing Narco, Polygraph Tests on People Is Illegal

Polygraph tests have been around for a while, but narco analysis became a household name in India after its use at the Bangalore Forensic Science Laboratory in the early 2000s. The Supreme Court eventually heard a set of challenges relating to the involuntary administration of narco analysis, polygraph examinations and Brain Electrical Activation Profile tests. On 5 May 2010, the court pronounced a game-changing decision in the case of Selvi vs State of Karnataka, in which it held that the compulsory administration of these tests violated the ‘right against self-incrimination’ of the Constitution) and also violated the standard of ‘substantive due process’, which is part of the right to personal liberty. The court also held that forcing people to take these tests “is an unjustified intrusion into the mental privacy of an individual” and would amount to “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment”.