Sectional Test · GK & Current Affairs
Legal + Science · Polygraph Test & Narco AnalysisPassage
In Selvi & Ors. v. State of Karnataka (2010), the Supreme Court held that compelling a person to undergo narco analysis, polygraph testing, or BEOS profiling without consent violates Article 20(3) (protection against self-incrimination) and Article 21 (privacy and mental integrity). The NHRC guidelines — endorsed by the Court as a minimum safeguard — require: (1) voluntary consent, (2) informed consent, (3) recorded consent before a Magistrate, and (4) treatment of any resulting statement as a statement to police, not a confession. However, if during a voluntary session the subject leads investigators to physical evidence, that fact and evidence discovered from it can be used under Section 27 of the Indian Evidence Act.
Q1.Which Indian agency was directed to conduct a polygraph test on the accused in the RG Kar Medical College case?
Q2.Which of the following is NOT among the standard parameters recorded during a polygraph test?
Q3.Narco analysis involves injection of which drug to induce a sedated state?
Q4.Who is credited as the first to use a scientific instrument to detect deception, in the 19th century?
Q5.The key principle behind polygraph testing, 'consistency,' refers to:
Q6.Consider the following statements: 1. A polygraph test can be conducted without judicial oversight if the accused is a terror suspect. 2. The NHRC has issued guidelines requiring voluntary, informed, and recorded consent. 3. Statements made during narco analysis are directly admissible as confessions. Which is/are correct?
Q7.Which best describes the legal status of polygraph and narco analysis tests in India?
Q8.Forcible narco analysis or polygraph testing without consent violates which fundamental right?
Q11.Rajan, accused of murder, reveals during a voluntary narco session (with NHRC safeguards) that he buried the weapon by a riverside. Police find it exactly there. Which of the following is correct?
Q12.Seema agrees to a polygraph test, but the officer skips recording her consent before a Magistrate. What is her strongest legal challenge?
Q13.In a kidnapping case, police seek compulsory narco analysis on the accused (who refuses consent), citing the victim's Article 21 right as overriding. How should the court rule?
Q14.During narco analysis, an accused says: 'I hid the gold bars in my cousin's house.' Police search and find not the gold bars, but fraud documents. Can these documents be used in court?
Q15.Priya is a witness (not an accused) in a murder trial. Police want to subject her to a polygraph test. What is most accurate?
Q18.Aryan, arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, is injected with Sodium Pentothal without consent and reveals the victim's location, leading to a rescue. What is the correct legal decision?
Q19.During a voluntary narco session (NHRC safeguards followed), Meera says: 'I killed him. The knife is under my kitchen floorboard.' Police retrieve the knife with her fingerprints. Which is correct?
Q20.Vikram refuses to give (i) a voice sample to match phone recordings, and (ii) undergo narco analysis to disclose account numbers. Police seek a court order to compel both. What is the correct decision?
Assertion (A)
A polygraph test is considered a softer alternative to torture as an investigative tool.
Reason (R)
Unlike physical coercion, a polygraph relies on measuring involuntary physiological responses while the subject answers questions voluntarily, causing no bodily harm.
Select the correct option:
Assertion (A)
Statements made under narco analysis are treated as 'statements to police' and not confessions.
Reason (R)
A confession, to be admissible, must be made voluntarily before a Magistrate; statements extracted under chemical sedation lack voluntariness and are made to police, not to a Magistrate.
Select the correct option:
Assertion (A)
A narco analysis statement recorded by police cannot be treated as a confession even if it contains a clear acknowledgment of guilt.
Reason (R)
Under the Evidence Act, a confession to a police officer is inadmissible under Section 25, and a valid confession requires it be made voluntarily before a Magistrate under Section 164; narco statements satisfy neither condition.
Select the correct option:
Assertion (A)
Evidence discovered through compelled narco analysis cannot be used in court, even if it physically proves guilt.
Reason (R)
Section 27 of the Indian Evidence Act is conditioned on the information being given voluntarily; if compulsion is used, the voluntariness element is absent and the discovered evidence is tainted.
Select the correct option: