Selvi V. Karnataka
Definition
Indian Supreme Court 2010 ruling holding that compulsory narcoanalysis, polygraph, and BEAP procedures violate Article 20(3) as testimonial compulsion. Governs the admissibility of physiological and brain-based deception detection in Indian criminal proceedings.
- Court
- Supreme Court of India
- Year
- 2010
- Constitutional basis
- Article 20(3), protection against self-incrimination
- Techniques covered
- Narcoanalysis, polygraph, BEAP/brain-mapping
- Core holding
- Compulsory administration is unconstitutional testimonial compulsion
Common questions
Can these tests ever be used with the subject's consent?+
Yes. The Court permitted these techniques where the subject gives free and informed consent, following the National Human Rights Commission guidelines, but results still cannot be used directly as a confession and any material subsequently discovered must independently satisfy admissibility rules.
How does this ruling treat the difference between testimonial and physical evidence?+
The Court held that these techniques elicit communicative, testimonial responses from the subject's mind rather than passive physical evidence like blood or fingerprints, which is why they fall within Article 20(3) protection while DNA or fingerprint sampling does not.
Does the ruling affect how investigators can use test results in court?+
Any information involuntarily obtained is inadmissible as evidence and as a confession. Even voluntarily obtained results are treated as investigative leads rather than substantive proof of guilt, and derivative evidence must be independently verified.
Related terms
- Appropriate Adult
- UK PACE Code C requirement: a responsible adult (parent, guardian, social worker, or independent person) who must be present during the detention...
- Compliant False Confession
- A false confession given knowingly by an innocent suspect who yields to interrogation pressure to escape the immediate situation, to gain a...
- Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scales
- Psychometric instruments (GSS-1, GSS-2) measuring Yield (acceptance of misleading suggestions) and Shift (changing answers under pressure). Used to assess whether a suspect's...
- Internalised False Confession
- A confession in which the suspect has come to believe they committed the act, often as a result of intense questioning that...
- Kathi Kalu Oghad Principle
- The Indian Supreme Court's 1961 ruling interpreting Article 20(3) as prohibiting compelled testimonial statements. Combined with BSA provisions rendering police confessions inadmissible,...
- Miranda Warning
- The statement of rights that US police must deliver to a suspect before custodial interrogation, required by the Supreme Court's 1966 decision...
- PEACE Model
- A structured interview framework used by UK law enforcement and increasingly by private investigators: Preparation and Planning, Engage and Explain, Account, Closure,...
- Reid Technique
- The dominant North American police interrogation method developed by John E. Reid and Fred Inbau (1962; 5th edition 2013). Characterised by a...