What is narco test, turned down by Kolkata court after rape-murder accused Sanjay Roy said no?

Kolkata doctor rape-murder case: A local court on Friday turned down CBI’s appeal to conduct a narco-analysis test on the prime accused Sanjay Roy.

Kolkata doctor rape-murder case: A Kolkata court on Friday turned down the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) appeal to conduct a narco-analysis test on the prime accused in the rape and murder of a doctor at the RG Kar hospital, Sanjay Roy. According to officials, Sanjay Roy had initially agreed to take the test, but later refused to give his consent.

Sanjay Roy, who was arrested on August 10 in connection with the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata, was produced before the Sealdah Court for a closed-door hearing – a day after the CBI appealed to the city-based court seeking permission to conduct the narco test on Roy.

The CBI was planning to conduct the narco test on Sanjay Roy to cross-check his version in the case.

What is a narco test?

1. A narco test, or a narco-analysis test, is conducted by injecting a drug called ‘sodium pentothal’ into the accused’s body, which takes them to a hypnotic or sedated state in which their imagination is neutralised.
2. In the hypnotic state, the accused is believed to be incapable of lying and is expected to give information that is true.
3. The drug, sodium pentothal, used in the test, is a fast-acting, short-duration anaesthetic used in larger doses to sedate patients during surgery. It is also often referred to as a “truth serum”.
4. Under a 2010 ruling by the Supreme Court of India, narco-analysis tests cannot be conducted without the accused’s voluntary consent. While the test holds legal validity, the courts only grant limited admissibility depending on the circumstances under which it is conducted.
5. In India, narco-analysis was first used in 2002 in the Godhra train burning case in Gujarat.

Kolkata rape-murder case

On August 9, the body of a trainee woman doctor was found in a semi-naked state in the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College. A day after the incident, the Kolkata police arrested the main accused, Sanjay Roy, after he was seen entering the building around the estimated time of the crime in a CCTV footage, and his Bluetooth headphones were found near the crime scene.