Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, May 6: Karnataka Lokayukta, Justice N Santosh Hegde, has expressed his unhappiness at the verdict given by the Supreme Court, which has ruled that conducting narco tests on a person without his consent is unconstitutional and illegal. He commented about this judgment that has the potential to rock the investigation processes and the justice delivery system alike, as several investigations have relied heavily on the outcome of such tests.

Justice Hegde, who was in the city to take part in a programme in Suratkal, was met by the media men at his residence on Wednesday may 5. “I do not feel that the verdict of the Supreme Court is right. Under the present circumstances, during investigations in some cases, investigators need to use modern methods to extract information from the culprits. It would be wrong to compel the policemen to use the same old methods for investigations. Both in the eyes of law and court hearings, the accused have more chances of proving their innocence. Hence, there was no need to take another stand that is tilted in favour of the accused,” he opined.

He noted that Ajmal Kasab was subjected to narco tests without his permission and questioned as to whether it could be termed as wrong.  He reiterated that narco tests are among the modern methods that help the investigators to get important leads in their investigations, and hence felt that they need to be permitted.