Delhi govt gets first mapping machine to detect changes in brain waves, catch lies

The Delhi government has procured the machine from the US for its Forensic Sciences Laboratory in Rohini.

The national capital has procured its first ever brain fingerprinting machine.

Representative image(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The Delhi government has procured the machine — which will allow investigating agencies to detect changes in brain waves to determine whether a person is telling the truth — from the US for its Forensic Sciences Laboratory in Rohini.

The machine will be made operational soon.

The technique — called “brain fingerprinting” — involves measuring of brain activity in response to different words, phrases or questions. To each question or phrase, the brain activity measurement can indicate familiarity or ignorance with the details of a crime.

The information was given to a bench of Justice Manmohan and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal during the hearing in a habeas corpus plea of a minor boy whose father had moved the court, seeking production of his missing son.

The police had, in a status report, informed the court that CCTV footage from the area purportedly revealed that the missing child was last seen with a Child in Conflict with Law (CCL).

However, when questioned, the CCL revealed that the missing boy had drowned in the Yamuna river. However, the boy was not found even after many search operations were conducted inside the river.

Advocate Rahul Mehra, standing counsel of the Delhi government (criminal), had apprised the court about the delay in the case as the mother and sister of an accused juvenile had to be taken to Gujarat for narcoanalysis.

Mehra had also told the court that the facility of narco test is not available with FSL Rohini.

The court had then expressed surprise and said Delhi, being the capital of the country, should have at least one such facility.

In response, Mehra informed the court that while the high court was monitoring the upgrading of facilities at the FSL, many steps have been taken by the government such as the brain-mapping technique. He had informed the court that the work of installation and specific modification has been taken with the Public Works Department.