The facility at the hospital is linked to the Delhi government’s Home Department and the narcoanalysis tests are to be undertaken by the Forensic Science Laboratory, Rohini.
Delhi’s first narcoanalysis test facility, in the pipeline for more than two years, is set to be operational soon at Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital.
The facility at the hospital is linked to the Delhi government’s Home Department and the narcoanalysis tests are to be undertaken by the Forensic Science Laboratory, Rohini. Since the test involves injecting the subject with a drug, it will be administered at the hospital.
According to a source at the hospital, the first test is likely to be conducted next week. While a source at the FSL confirmed that it is set to be operational soon, they did not confirm when the first test is scheduled.
“The facility has been ready for the last year, but its operationalisation first got delayed by the first onset of Covid, and then by the second wave. For now, the hospital has offered for the facility to be used every working Monday as it is occupied with many other things as well. We will see if the government wants us to expand it later,” said a senior doctor at the hospital.
A narcoanalysis test is used in investigations with the aim of extracting true information from subjects and involves injecting the subject with sodium pentothal — referred to as “truth serum” — which induces a sedated state, neutralising the subject’s imagination. It is expected that the information that they share in that state is true.
The Delhi High Court has been closely following the setting up of such a facility in Delhi. In January 2019, a High Court bench had expressed displease at the lack of such a facility in Delhi and had stated, “… we would have expected at least one such facility would be available with FSL, Rohini.”
The Indian Express had reported that the need for a narco test facility was realised during the investigation in the case of a four-year-old boy, who had gone missing on August 4, 2018.
Source: Read Full Article
